Soul Calibur 2005
by The Threat
Summary: A tale of souls and swords, set in this modern world.
1. Chapter 1

**Transcending history and the world, a tale of souls and swords eternally retold...**

Ages ago, there was a sword, as famous as Excalibur, but at least thousands of times more powerful. A sword of which nobody remembered who made it, nor when it was made or why it was made. All that is certain is that it was made by the hands of humans. Although, I believe someone (or something) assisted them in making it. That sword was Soul Edge. Also known as the Sword of Heroes, the Sword of Salvation, and more recently the Cursed Sword. It was only too late that people began realizing that wielding a sword of such power comes with a price, a cursed price. It was then that the heroic sword became the evil sword. But for every force of evil, there is a force of good. A lesser known sword, but just as powerful, made by the angels according to some. This sword is known as Soul Calibur. Nobody knows it's true origin, nor it's full powers. Nobody alive today anyway, or so I once thought. As the stories go, they all claim that both swords have fought many times, and each time Soul Edge was destroyed forever, but somehow that sword shows up many years later as if nothing ever happened. Judging from those stories, it's easy to assume that both swords are still in combat today. Many warriors would still be fighting to gain the ultimate weapon. To become the ultimate warrior, or to become a legend. This is the story of one of them.

This is my tale of souls and swords...

* * *

Disclaimer: "Soul Calibur" and related characters are owned by Namco 


	2. Chapter 2

I had only just finished my last year at school that day. My parents were off to some country or other for business, or so they say, and it would still be a few days before they'd return home. I decided to spend some more time at the public library. A nice place to waste your time, according to my dad, but I'd rather waste my time here, then being at home with nothing. No friends, no TV, no internet... my parents wanted to be sure I'd study for my exam, hence. No matter. In the library I found an encyclopedia of haunted houses. A subject I'm not supposed to read about, but what the hey. I've spend about an hour (or two, maybe more) reading this. There was one place that caught my interest, though. In America there are hundreds of known

haunted houses, and at least half of them are in this little town in Louisiana. When I had read as much I came to realize something. Louisiana, which is USA, which is North-America, which is way beyond the Meridian, which is also beyond my reach. Almost my entire life I felt like I was stuck here, in this insignificant little country. Almost like I'm a prisoner. My parents can go anywhere they wish, whereas I am to remain where I am. This was something I had discussed with myself many times before, but somehow reading this book just remembered me of this little fact. I didn't pay much attention to the memory and kept on reading. I remember this moment only too well: I was reading "This area has been through many things. Besides the fact that each farm, each mansion has it's own ghost story, this town got to suffer from many natural disasters. And there's of course the civil war that had been fought here. It's almost like there's something..."

At that moment I stopped reading, because I had this weird feeling that I was being watched. I could look around, but then I would alert my viewer, and he will do an even better job at hiding himself, so he can't be found. I cooked up a little idea, hoping this viewer would be a fool, assuming there is one. I saw an arrow somewhere on the wall at my right-hand side. It pointed to where I could find the lavatory. Maybe I could fool anybody by following that arrow, so I did. I got up, though hesitantly since my legs were a bit numb, because I have been sitting down for a while. After regaining control over my legs, I managed to walk into the direction of the arrow. After passing two ails, I was almost certain I heard a thud of some kind. For that I turned around and returned to the table where I sat before. I didn't see anybody, so I must have been imagining things. Though a shadow I spotted underneath the table made me think otherwise. I didn't think twice and ran back to the table. I looked under it. And I was right! Somebody was waiting for me to leave. A girl, mind you. Then I felt some kind of blow on the back of my head, and nothing else after that.


	3. Chapter 3

I have no way of knowing how much time had passed, or if at all any time had passed. What I do know is that at some point I was beginning to feel something again. I tried to open my eyes. All was a blur, but I could easily make out two girls. One looking through my backpack, the other lying down on the floor as well. Somehow, I wondered how this scene could take place without anyone noticing, but at the same time I wondered why that one girl, who was wearing quite dark clothes, and a hood to cover most of her head, was looking in my pack. She must've been the one that knocked me down. Although the girl underneath the table, I only saw her for a fraction of a second, but I know for sure that she's the one who lay down. Suddenly, it appeared as though the hooded girl did not find what she was looking for in my pack. She threw it away, and turned to the girl on the floor. She shook her awake, and started to shout something to her. She spoke an eastern language, so I couldn't make out what that was all about. Around that moment, the environment was becoming less of a blur, so I decided to get up. The hooded girl however was faster than me, and knocked me down again, though this time, I was kept awake.

"Stay down!" she screamed.

I turned my face to her. Ignoring the fact she just screamed at me, I asked: "Who... Who are you?"

She didn't seem to keen on me asking her. If she were, she wouldn't wrap her fingers around my neck, about ready to strangle me.

"Listen!" she said as she held me, "I have no interest in you whatsoever! But if she followed you, I bet there's some good reason to keep you alive."

Suddenly, the other girl, who appeared to be wearing a mask, held a knife to the hooded girl's throat. She mumbled something in her own language, and the hooded girl mumbled something back.

Those two began conversing in a language I didn't know. That's how I saw my chance. I punched the hooded girl in her stomach. She let go of me, and the other could finish the rest. I didn't bother to look at what was happening, I heard a few, thuds, sighs, clings, clicks,... they were obviously fighting, but I was more concerned about taking my stuff and leave.

As I was running to the exit, I noticed the surveillance camera's were unplugged, which explained why nobody had shown up. I didn't care much, I needed to get out. When I made it to the exit, I noticed the librarian was gone. Instead, there was a pool of blood underneath the desk. This came quite as a shock to me. Just then, it occurred to me how silent the library was. This wouldn't be new if it weren't for those two girls fighting. Though... if it's silent, that could mean one thing. The fight was over. I didn't care much about which one of the two had won, I was only concerned about getting out with my own life. That was a chance that nobody wanted me to have, apparently, because just when I was about to make another run for it, somebody grabbed my throat from behind and pulled me back. I was thrown against the wall and held up a few centimeters above the floor. It was the masked girl!

"Where is it!" she demanded me to answer.

I had a question of my own, though: "Who are you?"

"I asked you first! Where is it!" she kept insisting.

"What are you talking about?" I asked her.

The masked girl wasn't happy with that answer: "Don't fool with me! Just tell me!"

Given my situation, I would love to tell her where to find "it", whatever "it" may be. But she might as well be trying to force an answer out of me without asking the question first. About a second after I realized she had dark eyes, her grip on me started to loosen a little. She seemed to have been hit by something, which caused her to faint, and inevitably caused me to fall hard on the floor. For some reason, I don't know why, it was then I got a better look at her. She had mid cut jet black hair, and a round face. She wore some cotton looking sleeveless shirt, a tight red skirt, leather boots and gloves, and a long cape. Judging from her daggers, I'd say she was a ninja, though her clothes contradicted this. And given what that other girl looked like, I began wondering when I stepped through the portal that brought me into the world of comic book heroes.

After examining her, I realized that she didn't just faint. I looked up, and there she was, that hooded girl. I wanted to get up, but the hooded girl threw some kind of a knife at me. It missed me by an inch, and got stuck in the wall, like a nail would when knocking on it with a hammer. The knife in question reminded me of those that the guards used in Disney's Alladin. This girl wouldn't happen to be a mercenary or something?

"Don't move, unless I tell you to!" she ordered me.

"What's up with..."

She didn't let me finish my question: "And only speak when I tell you!"

Now it's official, I thought to myself, I can't get out of here. Now I'm involved with something big. Don't know what, but I am. Realizing that I decided to do exactly what she told me to do.

She marched to the masked girl. She took out a dart (probably the one that knocked her out cold), and pulled both of the masked girl's arms behind her back.

"Hold this!" she told me.

I held the girl's arms, just like she asked me to. The hooded girl then used the masked girl's cape to tie her hands together. When she was finished with that, she moved a bit closer to her head. There she lowered the girl's mask, in such a way that it performed as a gag.

As she was doing so, however, I noticed the masked girl's daggers. The hooded girl wasn't paying any attention to me, so I took my chance, and grabbed hold of both daggers. When I did, the hooded girl turned around. She was about to attack me, but I used one dagger to stab her in her arm. She cried of agony, but didn't let that stop her. She took her knife out of the wall, and began attacking me. I was no skilled fighter, nor skilled with knifes, so all I could do was try and dodge every attack. With her last attack, I saw a chance to stab one dagger in her hand, so she couldn't hold her sword much longer. Still she wanted to attack me, so in defense I allowed the other dagger to penetrate her somewhere in her bust. At that moment, she seemed to curse a few things, just before she finally gave in, fell on the floor, and died.

I can't describe what went through me at that moment. I never ever killed anyone before in my life, until now. At that same moment the masked girl seemed to be awakening. I could hear her moan through her gag, and beginning to struggle against her bonds. I knew one thing for certain: only she knows why I killed that hooded girl.

I picked her up, and put her on a nearby chair. If I didn't know any better, I'd say she was trying to say "help me". I was eventually, but I needed some answers first. I took off her gag, and began asking.

"First things first! Who are you? What do you want? And what the hell's "it" you kept asking me about?"

Earlier she was some cold hearted girl forcing answers out of me, but that time she seemed to realize that she should've done things differently.

"I was talking about your metal fragment."

That answer didn't make me any wiser: "What metal fragment?"

"Don't act like you don't know!"

This girl was testing my patience: "Fine! I won't act like I don't know! What metal fragment?"

It still took her a few seconds to realize that I didn't know anything: "Will you undo this first? Please?"

She was referring to her bonds. I suppose if I wanted any reasonable answer, I had no other option but to be nice to her. I untied her hands, was about ready to take a seat, but...

"LOOK OUT !" she yelled.

What happened then, I'm not sure. All I can remember is that something pushed me. Then I felt another bump on my head, and everything went black.


	4. Chapter 4

When I woke up, not only was I at the hospital with a brain concussion, I was also interrogated by the police. Luckily they believed every single word I said, possibly because the entire scene on it's own was odd enough, too odd maybe for someone like me to pull off. Likely, these policemen are the only ones that ever considered me normal, which is something not even my parents do.

When my parents returned home, they were angry with me. They were angry because I could've died there. Any other parent would be happy because I didn't die. I remember beginning to regret fighting for my life back there. Now I don't know what I regretted the most at that time: killing someone to stay alive, or killing someone but not knowing why and probably never find out why.

Life couldn't get much worse after this, I kept telling myself, and I was right. One way or another, I managed to get enrolled at the college they wanted me to be. Unfortunately for them, I wasn't taking the courses they wanted me to. They got me enrolled for doing medicine, but behind their backs, I managed to get enrolled for creative writing instead.

I had such a wonderfully time that year. For the first time in my life I could actually go out and have fun, I actually even had friends! Still, they were merely acquaintances, people who happen to be in the same classes as I am, and nothing more. In other words, in fact nothing to be considered as some kind of friendship at all. But then summer came near...

I was about to return to my parents house. I could say return home, but I hardly even call it that anymore. I would give anything just so I won't have to go back. Fortunately, the first two weeks of summer, my parents were gone for business again, like last year. That was roughly the only bit I remembered. I had managed to repress the rest somehow. But one night during those two weeks, can't exactly remember the day, had changed that.


	5. Chapter 5

Someone had organized a party in his own house. Everyone from our year was invited to come, but naturally weren't the only ones who came. It was one of those parties where the only ones remaining sober were the ones who were to drive anyone else home, but usually got drunk themselves. If one can't rely on himself, then how could anyone else rely on one?

That night was quite intense. It was quite hot inside, probably because of so many people inside, which got us a little immobilized at times. Additionally, I had drank some beer, which raised my body temperature a little. So there was a moment I actually had to go outside the house. I was still finishing the first bottle of beer I had that night, at that moment. I was beginning to remember the past year, trying to compare it with earlier years, which I couldn't seem to remember anymore. Until...

"Your aura... It looks so evil."

I heard someone talking. It may have been the drink, though I hadn't drank that much yet, but I would swear she said something about an aura.

"What?" I asked as I looked up.

I saw a dark figure. She was cloaked, though I wouldn't know why. Judging from the size and voice, I'd say there was a girl standing in front of me.

"Evil seems to surround you." she continued, "Evil seems to be with you! But it doesn't seem to control you!"

Come to think of it, that would be the first time I heard someone with such an accent that didn't refer to beer as a thing of evil. Even so, I still had no idea of what she was talking about. At least she had the decency to take off her cloak's hood.

"I'm sorry for being so mysterious," she explained "I just didn't want to be seen until I was absolutely certain about who I have before me."

"Who are you?" I asked.

"Talim." she answered.

The name sounded familiar, but judging from her Asian looks, I supposed that the name is quite common where she's from. It is possible that I bumped in on the name before, but I didn't remember where or when.

Still wondering what this is all about, I asked: "And what this thing about an evil aura you mentioned?"

"It's weird." she explained, "It seems to cover you like fog, but it doesn't seem to effect you at all. Such pure evil, and you're still sane?"

Though still being serious, I replied: "Given some past experiences, sane would be the last word I use.

"Experiences?" she wondered.

I told her: "I don't wanna talk about it."

"Were you treated bad in the past?"

"To say the least!" I answered, "But why would you wanna know that?"

"Maybe they taught you patience."

"Excuse me?" I asked her quite exited.

"That's why it can't consume you!"

"What can't?"

"The evil aura!"

She still hadn't answered my question: "What evil aura? What are you talking about?"

"Do you own some piece of metal? Which glows red?"

It is true that I had some kind of a rock which glowed red every once in a while. I always believed that glow was some kind of optical illusion. Question is, how did she know about that? I thought to myself, that perhaps she was one of those religious people who believe those type of rocks are forces of power, and thought I might wanna join them. Which meant trouble, and that was the last thing I need.

"I wouldn't say own it." I explained to her; "It's really my mother's, and she thought I should keep it in with me for luck. In fact I'm keeping it because I'm afraid to throw it away. Because If she would see I did that, I'm in trouble. Hell I'm even afraid to tell her that I believe the glow is some kind of trick to fool her."

"So it's already effecting her." she said

Every second I talked to her seemed to make less sense: "What are you saying now? That that rock's evil?"

"Yes!" she answered abruptly.

At that moment, I was officially confused. Unless it were an opal from those djinn myths, how can a rock be evil?

"You ever heard of Soul Edge?" she asked me.

That name... I had read dozens of stories about that: "The Cursed Sword? Yeah, I know all about it! Why?"

"That rock, as you call it," she explained, "is really a fragment of Soul Edge."

I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Next thing I know, she would tell me that my bed was made out the the same wood on which Jesus Christ himself was crucified. As I was thinking that, something came to me. I remembered where I had heard her name before.

"Wait a minute. You wouldn't be that same Talim from..."

"Hard as it is to believe, yes!"

I distinctly remember myself thinking "Is all of Asia gone nuts?" at that moment, although I couldn't remember anything else that involved Asians, out of which I could draw such conclusions.

"You don't believe me, do you?" she asked almost pleading.

I didn't know what the right answer could be to that question.

"Maybe this will change you mind!" she said as she started to take of her cloak.

I remember to have seen pictures of Talim. Not photographs, but still colored and fairly believable drawings of her. From what I remember of those, even though she was wearing modern clothes, her taste in clothes hadn't changed much. She was still wearing a greenish top, white tight shorts, green shoes, white socks and golden bracelets. She was also carrying her tonfa's on her red belt.

After she had taken off her cloak, she turned her back to me, and lifted her top up a little. She was showing me a wound, which wouldn't have meant much, if the wound wasn't glowing green.

I looked at it amazed: "What the...?"

"How familiar are you with the stories?" she asked me.

I was trying to pull myself together before I answered: "I... I... In all stories the same characters return, but it never ends the same, or picks the same character as protagonist."

"Do you at least know Necrid?"

"Yes." I answered, "He was poisoned by Soul Edge, wasn't he?"

"I fought him once, as you may know." she explained, "Somehow, by scratching me, he has poisoned me with Soul Edge too."

"That's how you could possibly still be alive?"

"No." she replied, "It was this boy I helped, who was infected with evil, that helped this."

"How?"

"The only way I could heal him was by carrying his disease instead."

"Yeah, I read about that," I interrupted, "but weren't you already carrying a disease?"

"Not really." she continued, "The poison Necrid gave me wasn't working on me as it did on him. It acted like any other poison. It slowly killed me. By carrying the boys disease, and later destroying the sword, I thought I'd be saved."

"And obviously you were?" I remarked.

"I managed to cleanse Soul Edge," she continued, "and kill it's wielder with Soul Calibur. And Soul Calibur was the one that changed the disease. It wasn't evilness anymore, it became goodness. It wouldn't allow the poison to kill me, but it wouldn't let anything else kill me either."

"So basically, you can't die anymore! Lucky you!"

"Maybe!" she said, "But that's not good!"

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"As long as Soul Calibur exist," she explained, "I'll never die. And for so long Soul Edge exists, Soul Calibur will as well!"

"Of course." I stated, "As long as there's a villain, there'll be a hero. But what do you plan to do about it? Soul Edge has been destroyed dozens of times, if not thousands! What makes you think this time will be any different?"

"It won't be..." she answered, "... unless you give me that fragment I ask you!"

I had to seriously think this over. On one hand if I keep it to myself, I won't get in trouble with my mother, I'll be shielded by my fear. On the other, if I don't give it to her, I'll never get in trouble with my parents again, but then again nothing else would happen either. For my own sake, I might as well be asked to choose which flesh-eating virus may be unleashed upon the planet.


	6. Chapter 6

At long last, I decided to give it to her. Once Soul Edge was destroyed, my mother probably would not remember that she had ever given me anything like a glowing rock. On our way to my studio apartment, I still wanted to have some questions answered: "How did you know I have that rock?"

"I sensed it last year already!" she began explaining, "I knew it was somewhere in your house! But I couldn't get to it! I had another lead on Soul Edge, and if I lost that,..."

"Hang on!" I interrupted, "You sensed it? What did you sense?"

"We were passing by your house! I fainted when the wind revealed such great evil!"

" 'We'?" I asked.

"Me and Yumi!" she answered, "A friend I made at a ninja academy!"

Somehow, the word ninja had triggered a repressed memory. I remembered that day at the library again, when I was stalked by a ninja, and nearly killed by an assassin. I don't think she would want to hear about what happened to her.

"It was Yumi..." she continued, "... who decided that she could stay back and take it from you, while I'll follow the lead. If the lead payed off, I would return, and look for Yumi at our rendez-vous point. But she never showed up!

"Did she even know when to be there?" I asked.

"Yes!" she almost sounded like this was pretty normal, "She would show up there every ten days! At first I thought she may have found her own leads, but after a while... I'm really worried about her."

"Yeah, I guess you would." I said.

That was clearly not the right thing to say. She asked: "Is there something you know and I don't?"

I was thinking about how to tell her at first, but eventually: "Er... (sighed) Last year, I was surprised by two girls. One with a hood, another with a mask. I got bumped on my head at some point, so I don't really know what happened to them. I was told they killed each other. And to think I never wanted to remember that night."

"Well I'm really sorry to have brought this up!" Talim apologized, though she didn't seem to be very compassionate.

"Not sure if one of those girls was Yumi," I told her, "but if it was, I'm sorry to be the one to tell you she's dead."

Talim got back to her cooled self and said: "I know you are."

While we were going, I began wondering. I always thought that the glow from that rock was some kind of a trick, an optical illusion or something. The only reason I believe Talim is because she showed me that scratch on her back, which for all I know might also be some kind of optical illusion as well. Why this occurred to me only then, I'll never know for sure. Is it because I wanted to be part of something big? Is it because I wanted the stories of Soul Edge to be true? Or rather, did I want my curiosity about that glow to be completely satisfied? Or is it because I subconsciously still wanted to know what happened about a year ago? Facts still remained that I'm returning to my studio, along with a really beautiful woman, which doesn't happen too often, and she's dragging me into something from which I might not return. I once heard that once one comes in contact with the underworld, one can't escape it anymore.

The rest of the way was pretty silent. She did ask me how I could know so much about Soul Edge. All I could say is that ancient myths and legends, and mysteries, have always intrigued me. There were moments I wanted to ask her how she's been living her last few hundreds of years, but there was something about that look on her face, which somehow made her look even prettier, that made me choke before I even opened my mouth. For some reason, I did feel that things were going to take a turn to the worst.

Once we arrived at my studio, Talim took on a defensive position.

"What's the matter?" I asked.

"Listen to the wind!" was her cryptic answer.

"Whatcha mean, listen...?"

She did not answer. She took a few steps forward, looking around, prepared for just about anything. I did not know why she would do something like this. Must have something to do with her religion, I thought. When I was about to open the door, somebody held a knife to my throat, and pulled me back.

A weird sounding voice said: "Looking for me?"

Talim turned around. She was freaked but I wasn't sure, and I'm still not, if it was because of me being taken hostage, or what this man looked like. Talim on the other hand remained calm, and demanded him: "Let him go!"

"I will!" he said, "As soon as you give me everything you have on Soul Edge!"

"Why would you need it!" Talim replied, "You already are sharing it's power!"

"I need not tell you my true intentions!" the man said.

While they were arguing about,... whatever there was for them to argue, I guess it should be wise to figure out a way to get out of this situation. All I could think of, however, was wondering who it was that caught me off guard.

There was a certain scent that overwhelmed whatever other stench there may be in the streets. He smelled like the ocean, and fish, though he spoke to well to be a fisherman, so I took it this guy's a ship's captain. The knife he held to my throat had a peculiar look. If I didn't know any better, I'd say it was really a gun upon which someone had mantled a blade. It may have been the street lights causing the effect, but his skin had a purple-ish color. Talim said he is sharing Soul Edge's power. All together, I may have an idea of who's doing this.

Saying something I always wanted to say, I said: "Cervantes, I presume?"

The man was surprised: "You know me?"

"I know of you." I said, a little shaking, "You were the one who found Soul Edge, and used it to burn down most of the planet."

He was starting to loosen his grip. I was about to sigh of relief, but then he held his knife closer to my throat.

"I burned down the entire world!" he corrected me.

"Er... Yeah..." I tried to explain, "... my resources contradict each other. It even made me believe you didn't exist!"

"What!" he screamed.

"If you burned down the whole world, then how could I even be here? Or these houses, or anyone else that lives here? I have no doubt you can burn down the whole world, but it didn't seem to me that you ever did. Therefor, you don't exist!"

If I make it seem like he is as almighty as he believes to be himself, I thought it would persuade him to let go of me. I remember to have read that Cervantes was a pirate. Pirates have the reputation of being blood thirsty, but not quite bright. I hoped he would be one of those. He is! He had let go of me.

"A smart fellow!" he complimented, "You could prove useful to me!"

"I'm not so..." I began talking, but before I could finish that sentence, Talim had already started to attack him.

"... sure!" I finished.

Cervantes is still the pirate he always has been, though at this moment he looked more like a biker to me. Then again, I had never seen a modern day pirate before, so it is possible that bikers and pirates look very much alike these days.

The fight was a funny sight to behold. There was nothing new about the way Cervantes fought, I had never seen a pirate fighting more carefully then he did so why would he be so much of an exception. Talim's ways is an entirely different story. There were moments I wasn't sure whether she was trying to fight or whether she was rehearsing for some kind of a dance recital. I did read that her elbow blades aren't really made for combat, but for dancing rituals. Therefor it's easy to assume that she's using one such rituals in order to win this fight. There was a point when Cervantes decided to use the gun part of his gunknife. He missed of course. I was relieved to know that he had literally blown away his one shot, but then I relished that in this modern era guns can shoot more than one bullet.

Why am I still standing here waiting for this fight to be over, I suddenly asked myself. And why didn't anyone even wake up from that gunshot? That's when an idea had popped up in my head. I decided to throw whatever I could find to other people's windows. I was pretty sure someone did wake up from the shot, but decided he was really dreaming. He will be trying to fall asleep again, but that won't help because someone's throwing things at his window. That was the idea. All I hoped was that they would come out to see what's going on, and decide that there's a fight going on between two costumed loonies.

People started to throw things at them, shouting some foul words, threatening to call the police. I was hiding somewhere between two buildings, hoping Talim would see me, and come to me. She didn't see me, so I had to call for her. She found me this time. Cervantes made a run for it, and the people calmed down. I turned back to Talim, who punched me in the face.

"Fool! Why didn't you let me kill him?"

I was trying to collect myself before I answered her question: "Would you rather risk people seeing you kill someone, and explain to the police about the whole Soul Edge history!"

She soon enough saw her mistake.

Feeling that we've talked enough, I said: "Now can we go get the rock?"


	7. Chapter 7

Inside my studio, I pointed Talim to the closet upon which I had put that fragment. It was really put out of sight, so that when somebody enters, they wouldn't see it. I always wondered what it is that drew my mother to it. Now I have a pretty good guess what it was.

"There it is." I said, as I pointed. After that I marched to the closet, picked it up, and gave it to her.

"Another piece to return to that from which it came." was all she could say.

Something else just crossed my mind. There was something about what just happened that I couldn't quite put a finger on. And that very thought somehow bothered me.

Talim noticed it: "Something wrong?"

"Cervantes is very powerful, right?" I asked.

"... Yes?" she answered questioningly.

"From what I read, he should be able to make his blade float around in mid-air."

"I've seen him do worse." she said calmly. Which was good! It made me realize that I wasn't going crazy. I mean, I was beginning to think about people literally doing the impossible.

"Why didn't he do that?" I asked.

Talim didn't seem to need a moment to think about that, as she answered: "I could summon the wind as well, but I was afraid of how people would react if I did. Maybe that pirate thought the same thing!"

Of course, I thought. A pirate has to keep a low profile. In a way, it made sense. But then something else bothered me.

"Something else you want to speak of?" she asked.

At this moment, I thought of what I've got to lose. So I just came out and say it: "You're still alive! Cervantes is still alive! Makes me wonder who else is! Nightmare... Zasalamel... Tira... Astaroth... Ivy... Lizardman..."

"You seem to know quite a lot of people who sought the sword." she interrupted.

"That's not the point!" I reasoned, "I mean... what if they somehow find out about this and come to visit me, believing I still have it! Or given these modern times, it might not be them who look for me! Or maybe not them as I know them from the stories!"

"What do you mean?"

"For one thing," I began explaining, "our technologies have evolved in such ways, that if the world has to be destroyed it won't need Soul Edge! Whatever weapons we have, they are alot more powerful than the weapons of your time! I notice you have adapted yourself to this age in a fashionable way, but others may have modified their weaponry! Then there's of course the media! Or what they talk about!"

"What's so bad about them?"

"In case of the newspapers," I continued, "there would be reporters looking for the ultimate story, so they look for the sword! Then there's the whole thing about terrorists, and secret governmental operations! Perhaps even alien life-forms..."

"You don't feel safe anymore. Do you?"

Suddenly I realized that saying 'alien life-forms' was a bit overreacted. But given my currant situation, I lost the border between reality and fantasy. In any event, Talim was right. How could I possibly be safe now? I didn't get a chance to answer her question. Perhaps, she already knew what I was going to say. So she began talking.

"You said you know so much about mysteries and old legends and all. Is that true?"

"... Yes?" I answered, even though i didn't really understanding why she asked

"Maybe you could help me find other fragments!" she said.

I jumped up at this proposal: "You... you mean... you want me to join you on this...?"

"You're not much safer here then you are there!"

An excellent point. However, I had never been on such an adventure before in my life. I had no idea how I should prepare myself to this. Plus I'm sure there will be moments I'll have to play a real life Street Fighter game, but I had no such experience on that! Then again, I don't exactly recall Talim having any experience with fighting either.

Reluctantly, I answered: "... That's... that's indeed so."

"It is really for the best, for you as well as the whole world, if you'd join me on this."

"Suddenly the fate of the world rests on my shoulders." I remarked cynically.

I still took a moment to think about it. Eventually, I decided: "... Fine! I guess it's the only thing I can do right now."


	8. Chapter 8

I started to pack up some things. Talim was a great help at advising whatever it is I should take with me, and whatever it is that I wanted to take with me but shouldn't. Either way, I got everything I needed, and started to load up my traveling backpack.

While I was still loading up, I asked: "So where do we start looking?"

"That's what I should ask you!" she answered flatly.

I didn't understand why, so I asked: "How so?"

"If Yumi and I were to split up..." she explained, "... we shared the fragments we've collected. This way if anyone steals it from us they won't have them all."

"Clever thinking..." I complimented her, "... but what does that..."

"You said that Yumi died..." she interrupted, "... so if you know where to find her..."

I began to understand where she wanted to go with this: "If she was murdered, it means she was part of a crime scene. Whatever's found at the crime scene, whether it's a weapon or something the victim had in his or her pocket, it would be kept at a evidence locker at the local police station."

"You know which one?" she asked.

"I think so." I said uncertain.

"Then we know where we go first."

"Hang on!" I stopped her, "You want to break into a police station?"

"I want to retrieve her fragments!"

"But breaking into a police station isn't..."

I tried to reason with her, but she interrupted: "I know! But I know someone who would do it for us!"

Somebody else who's crazy enough, or rather even crazier than me, who would wish to see Soul Edge destroyed? The very existence of the sword was already hard enough to believe. Curiously, I asked: "And who would that be?"

"The Manji Clan!" she answered, "They are a group of ninja's!"

"And they would help us because...?"

"They were helpful enough to smuggle me into Europe already. Plus Yumi is one... was one of them."

The sound of that name made me sound an alarm: "And now that she's dead, they would still be friends?"

"It's best that we don't tell them that!"

"Just great!" I began worriedly, "First I meet one powerfully pirate, and now a gang of ninja's!"

"If you keep it down, they will see you less of a threat!" she reassured me.

How reassuring is this!

Moments later, we left my studio. I began to wonder how my parents would react if they came here and noticed I'm gone. All I can tell them is that I went on a little trip of my own, along with some friends. Which was only partly true.

It's was quite some time past midnight when we arrived at some old building. I have seen this place before, but I could never imagine myself walking into this and expecting to meet a clan of Oriental warriors.

Hearing something I couldn't recognize, I asked: "What is that noise?"

"The Manji Clan are always on a tour around the world to fight in tournaments." she answered, "Sometimes, they hold a small tournament of their own to earn some extra money."

"And that noise is one of those?"

"Yes!" her answer was short, as if she wouldn't want to waste any more time.

Talim knocked on the door. Somebody opened it. I'm not sure what it is that the guy asked, but assuming this is really something illegal, I guess he asked 'Password!'.

Talim answered something in her own language. Or at least I think so. But then he started to get loud about something. Since he pointed at me, I think he was getting loud about me. Something like "No outsiders", and Talim just broke that rule. I'm pretty sure she was trying to convince him that I'm not much of a threat to them. But that guy grabbed my arm and pulled me inside. He said something to another guy, and together they took of my traveling pack. Talim tried to stop them, but to no avail. Both guys dragged me to some kind of a cage, which was surrounded but an entire crowd. Inside the cage there were two guys, fighting each other. Though, if I didn't know any better, I'd say they were really trying to kill each other. One of the guys that held me said something to the other. Not sure about what he said exactly, but I could swear I heard him mention "Yoshimitsu".

After a while, one of the two fighting guys was down. The winner raised his fists in victory, while the referee along with some other guy dragged the other guy out of the cage. When the winner was escorted out of the cage, a announcer with a megaphone showed up. I got dragged into the cage once that announcer started to talk.

"Laaaadiiiieeeees and geeentlemeeeen. Before we go on with the next fight, I have to inform you that we have an intruder in our mids!"

There was a second announcer who translated that into that other language. Only now I know it was Japanese, but at that moment it didn't matter much what language it was they spoke.

"He's being brought here as I speak, to... Oh! Here he is now! The intruder!"

They threw me inside the cage, after which people started to throw stuff at me. Popcorn, slices of bread,... that would probably be the only part of this that has happened to me before in my life, and at the same time the only part of which I will never understand the reason to do it.

"As tradition describes it, he will be faced by our very own leader! He's known in stories and in music! The hero of heroes! Yooo... shiii... mitsuuuu...!"

And there he was. A man with a mask, but without a real right arm. I remember to have read his name before. He was a Japanese Robin Hood, who made part of the Manjitou clan. That clan is now the Manji clan, and clearly like an empire choosing there new king, they choose their new Yoshimitsu. Or at least that what I think. Unfortunately, I don't think that telling him what I know about him would help me right now.

The referee called both me and Yoshimitsu together.

"All you need to know," he told both of us "is that in these circumstances there are no rules. So don't be too emotional if your opponent dies here."

How nice it was to hear that! If I get killed here, the killer might not have meant to do it.

The referee signaled us to take two steps back. While I was doing so, I looked into the crowd, trying to spot Talim. I couldn't find her. I looked back at Yoshimitsu, hoping I could somehow dodge his first attack. And maybe the ones that will follow.

The referee called: "Versus intruder! Fight!"

Immediately, he ran to me. I couldn't dodge his first attack, which was on my face. I really can't tell what was the worst part of that moment, getting punched in the face or falling down on a concrete floor afterwards. Either way, it wasn't enough to knock me out cold just yet. I tried to get up, only so he could finish me off. I can't recall exactly where he hit me, nor with which hand, the synthetic one or the real one. All I can say is that there came a moment that when he would punch me in, for example, in the shoulder, I'd feel pain somewhere else.

The crowd was screaming things, though I couldn't make out what. Either they were screaming in Japanese, or those who spoke English had already lost their voices of all the yelling. Or maybe it's me starting to lose my sense of hearing.

There was a moment when I couldn't rely on my own strength anymore to get up. I actually had to lean against the cage's bars in order to be able to stand up. Many times I thought he was killing me, and I'll just never know why he did it, nor did I ever imagine to be in a fight like this when I die.

When I was leaning on the cage, Yoshimitsu held me by my neck with his synthetic arm. He was about to give me the final blow. I could barely keep my eyes open. On one hand that would be a good thing, so I won't see him do anything. On the other hand, I managed to notice something others may have overlooked in the past. There was a cog wheel on his arm that appeared to have loosened up during this battle. With every bit of strength I still had, I took that cog wheel out. The arm let go of me, while Yoshimitsu seemed to be in battle with his own arm. I was about to pass out, but then I decided I should really finish this off. It didn't matter how much pain I was in, I felt I had to fight back. I used the cog wheel to hit him in the face. Assuming I actually could hit him there, seeing as he's wearing a mask to cover his face. I hit him again, and that got him to fall down to the floor. Suddenly, his synthetic arm wasn't attached to him anymore. I picked it up and started to use it as a baseball bat. Eventually, he gave in, and I dropped the arm. Big mistake, since he still got up, for one last chance to knock me down. He ran towards me, but instinctively I did a jump kick, kicked him in his guts, and thereby knocked him out cold.

It may seem cowardice that I do this to a crippled man, but then again it was pretty obvious to anyone I had no experience in fighting, and they felt I needed to fight their strongest man, so who's the real coward.

The whole area had fallen into silence. Either because I just knocked down their leader, or I just couldn't hear them anymore. Either way, the referee eventually decided to call me the winner of this match, and then I saw nothing but darkness.


	9. Chapter 9

When you wake up, you never open your eyes immediately. They remain closed for the first seconds. At that moment, you think that whatever dream you just had really happened, no matter how illogic it was. And when you finally open your eyes, you're inside your own room, or wherever it was that you remember to have laid yourself to rest, and realize that whatever just happened was just a dream. With me, that was usually the case. But this time it was different.

I woke up, thinking that the fight was only moments ago. I felt pain, but I assumed it was because I've been lying in my bed in the same position the whole night. And when I finally opened my eyes, I could still feel pain. And even though I couldn't really see as much as I should, I saw enough to conclude that I was in some kind of infirmary. Bottom line is: it wasn't a dream, although I wished it was.

Couldn't help noticing someone was sitting beside my bed. That someone called for someone else. Or at least I think so, since it was Japanese I heard. In any event, I was sure It was Talim I heard.

"Are you okay?"

I tried to answer, but even trying to speak hurts. I heard another voice, of which I can only assume it was the doctor: "Don't try to speak now! Or at least not for another day, or you will become a mute."

He then said something else to Talim, and maybe even gave me some morphine, I wouldn't know. All I do know is that he left the room shortly after.

Talim seemed to have quite some things to say: "Don't worry! They said you won't suffer from any permanent damage. And I'm sorry that this happened! They usually never allow any outsiders inside their compound, unless they came to fight, or to gamble. You were no fighter, nor did you have any money, and they didn't believe me when I said you didn't come here looking for trouble. And now you're lying here."

Yes I am, I thought to myself. Lying here because the Manji clan was a little paranoid.

"Look at it from the bright sight!" she tried to cheer me up, "Nobody expected you to win this fight, so all bets were against you! You're unsuspected victory earned us a lot of money!"

I was about to ask how much, but then I remember I shouldn't be speaking right now.

"Also, the clan has nothing but respect for you now. Especially Yoshimitsu! You exceeded all expectations. I even wonder where you've learned that jump kick you did!"

In fairness, I ignored the TV's 'Don't try this at home' warning. That's how I learned it.

"They did not even hesitate when I asked them to break into the police station!"

I understand why they wouldn't. Question is, how did they know where to break in?

"Unfortunately, you didn't have a chance to tell me where to look. But they thought that if the police is involved, then there should be something about it in the newspapers. It almost went wrong then, because I hadn't told them you were more or less involved with Yumi's death. But Yoshimitsu convinced them to carry on."

In other words, that two or more fragments less for us to find.

"But now it had been better if they didn't. The fragments were already stolen."

Very well: that's two or more fragments less to worry about.

There was a short moment of silence. I think Talim expected me to say something as an answer to what she just told me.

"I'd better let you rest now." she said as she rubbed my arm. I remember that quite clearly because I could actually feel myself getting red. Talim didn't really seem to have noticed, or so she made it seem. But she was right, I needed to rest. When I did, there were some questions that popped up in my head, to which she hadn't really given me any answer yet.


	10. Chapter 10

Next thing I remember, is waking up some place where I didn't seem to be lying on something as comfortable as a bed, nor was it somewhere as quiet as a hospital. That is, assuming I actually was in a hospital just then. I also felt like their was something lying on my belly. Not particularly heavy, but it did make it harder for me to breath.

My eyes were still hurt, but at least I could open them better then. Again I didn't know the place, but I did recognize it as some kind of cargo base. Judging from the sounds I kept hearing I concluded we were on an airplane. I smelled some kind of wood, which indicates that I'm lying on some kind of crate. I looked down to my belly, to see that Talim had fallen asleep, and laid her head to rest on me. There was nothing I could say yet to wake her up, so instead I tried to get up. I had no idea how long I've been asleep, but apparently it was long enough to cause my body to be numb. The best thing I could do was try to lift up one hand, and hold her nose. That one seemed to work just fine, for she got up and drew her blades. It took a moment for her to realize it was only me.

"I really wished you'd wake me in a different way." she complained.

There wasn't much I could say, for I didn't know Werther that one day the doctor had mentioned had already expired or not. I guess I'll find that out in due time. I tried to stretch out my hand, to signal her.

"You want me to help you get up?"

I nodded. She helped. I even tried to stand up, but even that didn't work without her help either.

"Easy! It takes time before you can move normally again."

I was about to ask her how long I've been asleep, but then I remembered I shouldn't talk. She did notice I was about to say something, though.

"You can talk, if you want to. You slept for another two days after you first woke up. And before that you slept for three days."

Though my throat felt dry, I still managed to say something: "That's what I was about to ask."

Talim noticed my dry voice: "You want something to drink?"

I didn't want to say yes, so I nodded instead. She helped me to sit down, and left to get me something to drink. While she was gone, I tried to move my legs. I kind of tried to train myself into moving my body again. By the time she had returned, I didn't need her help anymore to get up, but I still needed to lean on something to be able to stand up at all.

"I see you're getting better then!" she said laughingly.

She gave me a plastic cup of water. I wanted to take a whole gulp at first, but the pain made me realize I'd better start with smaller doses.

There was something Talim had been dying to say earlier: "I'm really sorry I got you to go through all of this. I feel so responsible."

There was nothing she could have done about the ninja's being paranoid. I tried to make her realize that: "Well, it's the first time for me to ever be on an airplane. So I guess I should really be thanking you."

Talim smiled as she said: "It's nice to see you taking it well!"

"I will be until this plane crashes!" I remarked pessimistically. That remark made her lose her smile. For some reason, I don't know why, but I didn't want her to feel the way she did.

"Did you stay with me the whole time I was asleep?" I asked her.

"Yes! After what what happened, I couldn't bear to leave your side."

"Nice to hear that!" I assured her.

"Really?"

"I honestly didn't expect you to stay at all! Then again, I expected that either I was dreaming the whole night, or I would die in that fight."

For a short while, there was silence. I realize we were on a plane, but it took a while for something to occur to me: "Where are we headed?"

"Sargedgna!" she answered.

I never heard of that name. Talim could read that from my face, so she explained: "It's an island near Italy."

"Why are we going there?"

"Because of you, they lost a lot of money, so they go to the money pit."

There's a name I recognized: "The money pit? As in..."

"There was a man who collected all kinds of treasure, and threw them into a very deep pit."

Yep. I knew I heard it somewhere before.

Talim continued: "There was a time when the clan had a hard time reaching down to it. With today's technologies they believe they can now. It was never needed until you got them to lose much of their money."

"Never knew I could make that much of a difference!" I thought out loud.

"With any luck, we might actually find the sword down there!" she finally stated.

"Yeah, about that..." I began talking about something I've been meaning to ask before.

"What?" she asked.

"You told me you had cleansed the sword! So it's not evil anymore, right?"

"Right after I cleansed it, no!" she talked about long ago, "But over the ages, other people started to grab it's lit, and it regained it's evilness eventually."

"So instead of cleansing it," I finally understood, "you decide to destroy it permanently?"

"It is the only way to get rid of it's evil!"

Still questioning some other things, I asked: "And collecting all metal fragments would help us because...?"

"If they are in close proximity of the sword, they will melt together. And the only way to be completely certain of Soul Edge's destruction..."

"Is to destroy him completely, including the fragments!" I finished the sentence for her.

"Yes."

Still thinking out loud: "Finding one needle in a haystack is already difficult. How..."

"The wind would tell me when the time comes!" was her answer.

I was never really into any religion, therefor I responded: "W... Wh... Wha... Wha... What?"

"I know it's hard for you to understand." she assured me, "It will become more clear when it happens."

I should hope so. I never really did understand how her people could warship the wind just like some people warship gods. And that last bit was already hard enough to understand.

There was another question I wanted to ask her, like where has she been for past few hundreds of years. But for some reason, I felt that if I ask her, I might in some way offend her. It would sound like "You had that much time, and only now you decided to do that", or "All this time, and you never even took your time to enjoy it". I don't have an immortal life, and my parents even think that I have too much free time. If it were up to them, they'd make sure I wouldn't have any time to eat or sleep. I was only too lucky to have them allowing me to live on my own during my college years. When I thought about that, I realized I didn't know what day we were today. Talim told me I was asleep for five days, in total. But she didn't tell me Werther she counted today or the day I passed out as one them. So it's possible that my parents have discovered that I'm not at my studio apartment anymore. Imagine that: they arrive there, they knock on my door, I don't open, they call the landlord after trying to kick the door open...

"You're very quiet!" she interrupted my thoughts, "Something on your mind?"

"Nothing of any significance." I answered flatly.


	11. Chapter 11

Not much later, this plane landed somewhere. Even though I knew where we are, or rather supposed to be, I actually wondered where we landed exactly.

It was a matter of seconds before someone got down to the cargo base.

"You're awake!" he said.

There was something about that tone he used that made me say: "You sound disappointed!"

"After what you cost us, give me one reason not to be!" was his somewhat angry response.

"After what we did to him, we should be disappointed with ourselves!" somebody else called.

That guy who spoke with us turned around to see his own boss. As humble as he could be, he said something in Japanese to Yoshimitsu. Yoshimitsu on the other hand demanded him something as a reply, after which he turned to me.

"I'm offering you all my apologies."

"That's 'I owe you an apology'!" I corrected him. Nothing he said could really make it seem right what he had done anyway.

Yoshimitsu ordered the others something, then spoke to me again.

"Normally we would not nearly kill someone if he wasn't worth our challenge."

Despite the pain I still suffered, or the patience I had practiced given my past experiences, there was no way in which I could keep my cool here: "Please! Normally is a word that doesn't even apply here!"

Yoshimitsu replied: "You are looking for a sword that exists only in stories, and you tell me when to use 'normally'?"

"Don't try to change the subject here!" I made a sudden move with my left arm when I said that. It was really painful.

"Despite what you may think right now," he said, "you can not deny that I acknowledge my mistake, unlike the rest of the clan. And I truly believe you deserve that!"

He pointed to a small box which lay next to the crate I laid on earlier. It hadn't noticed it until he pointed me to it. I wanted to pick it up, but when I made a cry of pain, Talim decided she should do it for me.

"What's in it?" I asked.

Yoshimitsu did not answer directly: "Only one way for you to find out!"

I whispered something to Talim: "Two things: didn't you say the rest of the clan respected me? And should we really trust him on that Pandora box?"

Talim answered both of these questions: "They only respect you as a warrior! Not sure if this box is made out of pandora, but I'm sure it's safe for you to open."

Funny to hear she wasn't familiar with the story of Pandora. It didn't matter. It was one of those wooden chests, which is also used to move smaller objects, and has to be nailed shut. It wasn't nailed shut, so all I had to do was take the lit of.

It was only then that I realized that such boxes, which movers have to work with every day of their lives, is in fact our modern version of a treasure chest. If it weren't for the fact that this was all in a chest rather than a briefcase, I'd say this looks exactly like in the movies, when somebody opens the briefcase, to see it filled with money. I had to look more closely, to check Werther they were all real bills. They were. All American fifty dollar bills. Though the question only just occurred to me as to why they were all dollar bills.

"You knew about this?" I asked Talim.

Yoshimitsu answered my question for her: "We told her to keep it a secret. I wanted to hand that thirty million dollars to you personally."

It is possible I misunderstood what he just said, but I'm sure he mentioned the word "million". What exactly did I do again to deserve that amount of money?

"Is this the money I got from fighting you?"

"Catches on quickly, don't you?" Yoshimitsu said.

I looked at Talim when he said that. In fact she told me about the money before. She smiled a little, obviously understanding the joke here.

The other guys were loaded with guns. P-90's if I'm not mistaking. They talked to their leader, he talked back, and took a 9mm himself.

There was something I didn't understand about this, so I asked Talim: "I thought they were just gonna explore a pit."

"They are!" she said, "But they'll have to deal with they guardian first."

I had read about a guardian before. Some guy referred to as Voldo. But he can't still be alive!

Yoshimitsu called at us: "Talim! If you think you could be of some help, then you should..."

"No! I'd rather stay here with him!" she told them.

"Suit yourself!" he said, although he sounded as if he expected this as an answer.

He yelled something to the everyone else. Baring in mind that these guys are ninja's, it was a weird sight to see them walking around with guns. I know that Voldo was a vicious guardian, but I thought this whole scene was a slight bit overreacted. They didn't seem to feel the same way though, and marched out of the plane. Again they surprised me by leaving the cargo base the same way the had entered it, since there was a gate at the back side of this space. Then again, even though they began looking like typical military people, they'd still use ninja tactics.


	12. Chapter 12

Shortly after they had left, Talim made an offer I just couldn't refuse.

"Want me to take you to see the rest of the plane?"

I almost begged this: "By all means, please do!"

I figured that after lying down on a crate for who-knows-how-long, a trip to see other parts of the plane should be fun. Doing so, helped me to see where we landed exactly. I mean, I know that Italy has two islands, one is Sicily, the other is a name I keep forgetting. What I do know is that I never knew there could even be an airport on that island. And even if there was, I find it hard to imagine that these ninja's would land here, or anywhere else, and still be able to lay low. When we made it some place that actually had a window, I understood how they did it.

By looking through the window, I realized we really landed on water. I'm not sure if an airplane like this has a particular name, but what I do know is that this type of plane can land both on land and on water. That explained how they can lay low.

Eventually, we got to the cockpit. The first thing I remember hearing there were voices. They all came from the radio, which made it easy to assume these guys keep radio contact. It was a pity that everything that was said was in a language I didn't understand. Still don't now, by the way.

"What are they saying?"

"They're saying that they found another body." Talim translated.

"Another one?"

After listening to what the radio says, she explained: "From what I understand, each guardian gives somebody else the same training that the first one had to undergo."

"That would explain why there's still a living guardian there!" I figured.

"So it seems!" Talim agreed.

Something else came to me: "Why is this radio on when there's nobody else here?"

Talim had only just realized the same thing. There was nobody else in the cockpit!

Talim whispered: "Wind. Guide us!"

Not feeling particularly secure now, I said: "That's gonna help us?"

"I didn't sense there's nobody here! What does that tell you?" she said back at me.

Suddenly I realized something else. And Talim seemed to be able to read faces pretty well.

"What?"

"We did leave lots of valuables back at the cargo base." I said.

"Does that money matter right now!" she asked almost disgusted.

"I wasn't talking about the money!"

She realized soon enough that I was referring to the fragments of Soul Edge that were in our bags.

"Sit down," she commanded, "and tell Yoshimitsu we have a problem!"

She left to check the rest of the plane. So she wanted me to make contact with Yoshimitsu, by means of Japanese tools. With each button there was something written, most likely to tell us which button does what. But since it's all in a language I don't understand, it won't be much of help to any of us.

Just then, I noticed something moving away from the plane. Judging from the orange looking glow, the brown flying rocks, and a huge eyeball in the middle, I recognized it as that Charade I have read about.

"Talim!" I called for her, but she couldn't hear me. I would call her again if I were in a better condition to do so.

Just as Charade had entered a cave, which I think is the entrance to the Money Pit, Talim came back.

"They are all stolen!" she said worried.

"I have a pretty good idea where..."

Suddenly, we heard a death cry over the radio, followed by concerned voices.

"The guardian...!" Talim said nearly surprised.

I shook my head as I said this: "I don't think so! It's Charade!"

"What!"

I explained to her: "I saw him... it running out of this plane and into the cave!"

"Are you sure?" she seemed to need confirmation.

"There's no way to look passed that thing!"

"You think he's our thief?"

"Must be!" I answered without hesitation.

"Alright, I'll go get him!" she said before she turned around and left the cockpit.

"Talim wait!" I screamed after her.

But she had gone. What I tried to say is that she can't leave me here while the guardian is still out there. I had no choice but to follow her. Even though I couldn't run that fast, nor could I even really walk, but I had no choice.

After arriving at the scene, it appeared as though I had missed all the action. They had fought Charade, and won. Since I didn't see any remains of Charade, and I knew there was a deep pit nearby, I assumed it was beaten with a ring out. I heard them saying a lot of things, of which I hoped it were words of remorse.

"Thanks for leaving me unprotected!" I said

One of the ninja's thought this was funny: "Ooooh... you need protection from a little girl?"

I snapped back at him: "Try to do anything at all after you fought someone and broke every bone in your body!"

"I'm sorry," Talim apologized, "but I had to act fast! I couldn't let him escape with all our fragments!"

Yoshimitsu attempted to reassure me as well: "I don't think you had anything to worry about! This thing here must have been the Pit's new guardian."

"I doubt that!"

Yoshimitsu didn't understand: "Why?"

"Charade is not interested in a place like this. It's sole interest is to become complete with Soul Edge! That's why it took our fragments."

Yoshimitsu was still puzzled: "Then why would it run in here?"

I told him the what I theorized: "This guy who once owned this place was obsessed with Soul Edge. It is possible that there is something of Soul Edge here that attracted Charade."

Yoshimitsu started to be concerned now: "Like what?"

"Maybe there are some fragments here!" I answered, "Or Soul Edge itself!"

"I doubt to find So..."

He got interrupted when somebody screamed and ran away. As did most of the other ninja's. They ran away from some kind of a fire, that floated in mid-air, as if it were a ghost. Immediately after seeing this thing, Yoshimitsu said something in his own language and attacked it. Or at least tried to, but he might as well be attacking smoke.

Talim was the only one to think I may be of any help at all: "Is there something we can do?"

I told her what I know: "I remember to have read about this thing. But it doesn't exactly say how to defeat it in a situation like our own!"

Talim was starting to sound a little scared: "What do you mean?"

"There are way's for him to be destroyed in a village, but this is a cave! We have nothing usefully here." was my poor explanation.

After watching it nearly killing Yoshimitsu for the next few minutes, I noticed something else was floating with the fire. This gave me an idea on what to do.

"Talim! You'd better distract it!"

"You know how to defeat it?" she asked anxiously.

"I hope so!" I told her, "Just make sure that Yoshimitsu can get here!"

She did as she was told. She began attacking that thing, and told Yoshimitsu to come to me. When he arrived, and before he could ask me what I wanted, I began talking.

"Don't ask anything yet!" I commanded him, "Just look very carefully at it's center."

I was referring to that thing I saw floating with the fire.

"You see it?" I asked. After Yoshimitsu nodded, I said: "Shoot it with your gun!"

He looked at me questionable, but he knew that this may be our only chance.

He shot, we heard something fell, and the fire disappeared.

Talim was surprised to see this: "What did you just do!"

"I remembered to have read that sometimes a soul would be given a piece of charcoal, after which he would return to earth as some kind of a ghost."

Yoshimitsu was surprised to hear this: "You mean to tell us this was a Will-'o-The-Wisp?"

At the time, I had never heard of that name before, so I couldn't answer that question.

Talim picked up the charcoal I mentioned, and turned to me: "Instead of charcoal, would a fragment of Soul Edge do as well?"

"Well," I started to talk laughing, "now we know what Charade was after! And who knows! Maybe this Will-of-something was the guardian here!"

Yoshimitsu still didn't understand everything: "What I can't understand is how that Charade as you call it could even be aboard our vessel, and none of us noticed anything."

Talim seemed to have an answer to this: "...Not exactly. I sensed something familiar earlier, but I thought I was just imagining things!"

That's when it hit me: "Wait! You sensed something familiar?"

Talim was a little puzzled: "Err... yes?"

"What if this Charade was somebody you knew?" I asked.

Talim was still no wiser: "What do you mean?"

I started to tell another story: "The story goes that a man once died, while he had two pieces of Soul Edge in his hands. Later the body as well as the pieces had disappeared, and instead there were footprints. In other words, this man became Charade."

Yoshimitsu began to understand something: "Do you know someone who died and had a piece?"

Despite the fact she whispered this, she said clearly : "Yumi..."

"That would explain where those pieces at the police station went." I began to sound like a detective, "Assuming they ever made it there in the first place."

"Wait!" something had hit Yoshimitsu, "If this Charade is made out of a body and fragments of Soul Edge, then..."

What I said then had a somewhat sarcastic tone, "Then you have another reason to go down that pit now!"

Yoshimitsu talked to his radio. Likely he ordered the other guys to go down the pit now.


	13. Chapter 13

They took out as many things as they could. Including Yumi's body, and all the other pieces of Soul Edge. It didn't take long before the Manji clan had regained their wealth, and until we had all the fragments.

When we returned to the cargo base, we took a good look at what we had.

"These are indeed the pieces that Yumi kept to herself." Talim said.

I noticed something else: "Hey! Isn't that that sword that Cervantes used? Yumi took care of most of the work for us, with or against her will as Charade!"

There was a moment of silence. I don't know what went through Talim just then, it was almost like she was meditating. After she was done she said: "We have all the fragments now!"

"We do?" I asked surprised. I mean, how could she know such a thing?

"All we need to do is find the sword!"

Thinking I might understand her fixation with the wind, I asked: "What does the wind tell you?"

Talim looked at me as if I just asked a stupid question, so I said: "Never mind!"

"Do you have any idea as to where to find the sword?" she asked.

"Not really!"

Talim wasn't convinced of my answer: "Are you sure?"

There was something I remember to have read on the stories before, however saying that out loud may seem a bit of a stretch. Nevertheless, I started talking: "There are two others who may know something, but..."

Yoshimitsu just entered the base, and interrupted me: "Ah, there you are!"

He gave us a few packs of fifty dollars bills. I was curious why he was giving me more money than he's already given me, so I asked: "Haven't you given me enough money by now?"

"I have!" he said, "But while you were still in the cave, leaving your box unguarded, and the others returned to the plane, some took the situation to their advantage!"

I picked up the packs as I said: "I see! Thanks!"

Again I had a hard time to do anything at all, in this case putting the money back in the box. Talim was about to do it for me, but I stopped her by saying: "Maybe it's best if we keep one pack in our own pockets! You never know!"

Yoshimitsu checked on us: "So, you have everything now?"

"Apart from the sword, yes!" I answered.

Talim, without any hesitation, asked Yoshimitsu: "Do you know where to find it?"

"No." he said, "Although I think I know somebody who does!"

Both Talim and I asked this simultaneously: "Who?"

Yoshimitsu started his explanation: "The ancient scrolls tell us that our hero Yoshimitsu once met a visitor from the future, who worked along side another visitor."

"Curious!" I said, "I was about to mention those two!"

"Were you?" he seemed surprised to hear this, "What do you know?"

"Not much!" I told him, "I know one was a hell spawn, the other was a guy who claimed to be Japanese and didn't bother much to use weapons in a fight."

"Yes!" the description seemed to fit Yoshimitsu's knowledge, "They are both mentioned! Supposedly they were the last ones to have seen Soul Edge!"

"But since they were visitors from the future, they may be from a future that is already in the past by now." I thought out loud.

"Yes, I thought so too," Yoshimitsu said, "until I met Heihachi!"

That was a name that didn't ring a bell to me: "Who's Heihachi?"

"Not so surprised you don't know his name!" he seemed to enjoy this, "That Japanese guy you mentioned was called Heihachi, and his description fitted in every detail!"

"And you actually know that man?" Talim asked.

"We've met on occasions." was all he could say to that, "But I never asked him about Soul Edge, or my clan would become a mockery of the underground world."

I had it figured out though: "So we find this Heihachi, and we may get the info we need. Is that what you're trying to say?"

"Can you take us to him?" Talim requested.

"I'm sorry," Yoshimitsu apologized, "but my clan has other priorities right now. But I can get you to a befriended pilot who will take you to Japan!"

I still had one more question: "Then how do we find Heihachi?"

"You can find him in the yellow pages! It's really not so difficult." he made it sound so easy.

So he left the cargo base, to do what he said he was going to do. There was something else which bothered Talim however.

_"_How could you not know Heihachi's name, but he did?" she asked me.

"They never mentioned his name anywhere! Maybe the Manjitou clan wanted to keep it all a secret!"

She still didn't quite understand: "Then how do you know there was someone at all?"

"Perhaps they didn't do a pretty good job at hiding it!" I laughed, "It's the same with the Free Masons, the Priory of Sion,... all secret organizations, each with their own secrets, but if they really were that secretive nobody would even know they existed at all!"

Yoshimitsu had kept his word. He brought us to another airfield, told the airman he mentioned what to do, and then the airman brought us to Japan.


	14. Chapter 14

I must confess I've never been outside of Europe before. I have been outside my own country, visiting France, England, Germany, Spain, Italy... but this was my first time in another continent. Too bad it wasn't under the circumstances I'd loved to be there, like having time to go sightseeing and all that.

When we arrived, we looked for that Heihachi... whatever his last name was. That bit was easier for Talim to remember than it was for me. For that matter, it was easier for her to even read the yellow pages. In any case, we found an address, which we visited. There we encountered someone who claimed to be Heihachi's son. He told us to go look for his father at mount Fuji. So we did.

I've read how the Japanese look at Fuji, so this is a good opportunity to confirm whether any of that is true.

Luckily it wasn't to far away from Heihachi's home. There was a small entrance to the mountain. Or rather volcano. We entered that. Eventually, we heard some noises.

_"_What is that noise?" I asked.

"Sounds like someone's struggling!" Talim said.

I didn't agree on that: "That's not all I'm hearing!"

"Let us go and see!" she replied.

She was about to run, but I hadn't completely recovered from my wounds yet, so instead we sneaked towards the origin of the sounds. When we got there, we saw a somewhat unusual sight: there was a man, wrestling with a bear, on top of some kind of a rock, which stood right in the middle of a lava stream. Talk about hell on Earth! Being trapped upon such a ring, forced to fight a bear for the remainder of your life, if you weren't already dead, trying to stay focused in this heat, knowing that a ring out would burn you up.

Talim was the first of us two to make a sound: "Heihachi!"

Her call distracted him, so the bear saw his chance to knock him down. When he got up, he grabbed the bear as if it were some kind of pet animal, climbed down the rock, jumped to another rock, and climbed his way up to us.

Upon his arrival, he began cursing something to both of us. I was likely the only one who had no clue about what he was saying.

"Er... I'm sorry, but I don't speak..."

"Didn't think you would, either!" Heihachi said, as if he has some kind of hatred towards people like me.

"Please!" Talim begged, "I'm sorry if made you lose, but..."

"Lose!" he cursed, "You were lucky I wasn't knocked into the lava! Do you have any idea about how dangerous this exercise was?"

I was trying to stay calm as I said: "If I may... distractions can occur on the field as well. You should be happy she called on you like that!"

It didn't seem like Heihachi had much to say on this. I didn't realize I had that much influence on people.

"About what we came for..." I started.

"It better be worth it!" he remained angry.

"We were told that you know about Soul Edge!"

There was a look on his face that said 'How do they know?', but it quickly changed back into an angry face.

"Never heard of it!" he claimed.

"Are you sure?" I asked.

"Do I look like someone who's even interested in some stupid old sword?"

"If you've never heard of it, then how did you know it's a sword?" Talim said what I just thought.

We had him trapped. Perhaps the long exposure to the heat around here made him lose much of his concentration. He decided to tell us what he knew.

"There's now way to make you forget about it, is there! It's been that way long ago, and clearly it still is."

I was trying to make him cut to the chase: "You know where to find the sword?"

"No." he answered, "When I looked for the sword, I met someone who wanted to go home just as much as I do. He suggested that we should work together if we wanted to get any chance at all. At long last we found the sword. That other guy, Spawn or something, thought he should have it, and went away to hide it away from anyone else. I returned home at last, while he hid the sword."

"And you trusted that hell spawn into hiding the sword?" I asked, surprised to hear him telling us all this.

"I take it you know that I traveled back into time!" he nearly barked.

"So I read!" I told him.

"So we heard!" Talim told him.

We both said that almost simultaneously. It would have been funny if the heat wasn't catching on us, or if Heihachi didn't remain so serious.

"If he were to use the sword to destroy the world, this age wouldn't be as it is now! Would it be?"

"How do you know it's not an hallucination?" a thought that just crossed my mind, and I needed to ask.

"That would make you an hallucination too, wouldn't it?"

He had a point there. Assuming that that hell spawn can be trusted, I asked Heihachi: "And that Spawn... did he ever say where he was from, or..."

"All I know" he answered, "is that he resides somewhere in the darker alleys New York City known as Rat City, for reasons he doesn't even know himself."

I said to Talim: "America! Another trip with the airplane!"

Talim didn't seem too sure: "Isn't New York City huge?"

"It is!" I confirmed, "But I suppose if anyone ever saw a hell spawn, it would be something to remember for the remainder of their lives. So we should have no trouble at all to locate him."

I turned back to Heihachi to say: "Thanks for your info!"

Heihachi didn't reply. He took his bear back to that rock, and continued his training.

"As he pleases." I said as if not really caring about what Heihachi thinks or does, which I still don't really, "Let's get back to our transport!"


	15. Chapter 15

Disclaimer: Spawn and related characters are owned by Todd McFarlane

* * *

The flight took about ten hours, if not more. Talim and I spend that time asleep. When we arrived, the airman woke us up: "Hey, you two!"

We slowly woke up. Even before we had both of our eyes open, he didn't hesitate to tell us whatever he had to tell.

"You better get out now, before they inspect my plane!"

We got up as fast as we could, picked up our stuff, and were about ready to leave the plane!

"Thanks for helping us out!" Talim said before leaving.

"No problem at all. And you couldn't have thanked me soon enough!"

Talim nor I understood what he meant by that.

The airman explained: "If I go around with this plane again, people will start asking questions, so if you need to go somewhere else, now's the time to tell me!"

Talim nor I had any idea. Talim said: "W... We don't know!"

"Then I'm sorry..." he tried to sound like he's sorry, "... but I can't help you two anymore. Now go!"

He actually pushed us off his plane. Nice to see he cared about how we go on from here, but this seemed just a little too suspicious.

I discussed this with Talim: "Don't you think this was a little weird?"

"He's trying to protect himself!" Talim believed, "What's so weird about that?"

There's something about what the airman said which made me believe something's off.

"I... I don't know..." I replied.

"There's no time." Talim said, "Right now, we need to find Rat City."

It wasn't easy to find someone who would drive us to Manhattan Island. For one thing, we looked like tourists, which made us easy targets for thieves, or which made us look like a couple of psychos. I heard that people from New York City have seen everything, so they don't get impressed that easily. This here proves otherwise. It took us a while, but eventually a bus of hippies stopped and drove us to the island.

And that's when our search began! Even more funny about this city is that thieves can run around here, carrying machetes, and nobody would notice. One of them attacked us, Talim fought back. Only the thief was surprised about the way she moved, nobody else seemed to notice, or even care. It still makes me wonder what is wrong with this city. Does it take a giant gorilla to draw these people's attention?

"This is pointless!" I finally admitted.

"Didn't I tell you New York City is huge?" Talim reminded me.

"I don't think if a hell spawn would use one of it's tricks, people would remember it ever happened!" I concluded.

"So we're still looking for a needle in a haystack?" she asked sarcastically.

"There must be some way to make the haystack a little smaller!" I thought out loud, "You and you're whole 'power of the wind' thing, can't you give any directions?"

"I already tried, but I sense a lot of things around here." she said sadly.

If I wasn't in a situation like this, I would be enjoying New York right now. Unfortunately I was in this situation.

Still going through some possibilities, I said: "Since Rat City ain't an official name, the cops wouldn't be much of help either!"

"You lookin' f'r Rat City!" we heard someone say.

It was a bit of a screechy voice we heard. We both turned to the direction of where the voice originated. All we saw was a small, lumpy clown, with a bunch of balloons in his left hand, and patting a six-year-old with his right hand

The clown said "You came to see the right man!"

His voice alone could explain why most people are afraid of clowns.

"W... What?" I still couldn't believe he would help us.

The clown ignored my question: "You tourists want to sleep somewhere very cheap? Or are you looking for a place to stay forever? Rat City is the place."

He started to laugh. It almost sounded like a weird giggle, like he was up to something. I looked at Talim, and judging from the look on her face she felt the same way.

The clown suddenly had the urge to say: "I can even tell you where you could find all the whores!"

I realized this was something no clown would mention in front of kids, so I asked: "You're not really a clown, are you!"

"Scram!" the clown said to the kid, to us he said: "Why won't you follow me, and I'll tell you where to find it!"

He went into a nearby dark alley. He was signaling us to follow him, but Talim nor I were sure we should follow his lead.

Talim felt as insecure as I did: "Is there something I should know about clowns?"

"Ever read Stephan King's 'IT'?" I answered her question with another question.

She shook her head, after which I said: "At least in such an alley we can be completely sure we won't draw any attention."

"Attention?" Talim questioned that idea, "Here in this city."

I shrugged, not knowing what how to be logical in this city. All I did know is that this clown is our fist and only lead to Rat City, so I followed him. Talim didn't know what else to do either, so she followed me.

In this alley, he immediately had let go of his balloons. He searched in the bins for something. When he found it, I was surprised to see that he was looking for a donut, in which worms had already infested themselves.

I said to Talim: "If this sight doesn't make New yorkers even think "Oh my God", I d..."

The clown dropped his donut, and covered his ears as he said: "Aaah! Did you have to use the G-word?"

I know that some people believe clowns represent the devil. But seeing this guy, and considering what I've been through thus far, I was still surprised to find out that something of that myth is at all true.

"So you're supposed to be some kind of demon!" I asked.

"Oops!" the clown laughed, "Blown my cover away now, didn't I!"

"What do you want from us?" there was a sarcastic tone to what I said, "Our soul in exchange for your directions?"

"Your soul?" the clown said surprised, even though he didn't really sound surprised, "Some limited imagination you have!"

A heavy distant voice suddenly said: "It would be for the better!"

I looked around, but saw nobody else. The clown however did seem to know where to look at when he wanted to talk to... whoever that voice belonged to. Nevertheless, whatever it was, the clown started talking to it.

"There you are, sweetheart! I missed you!"

"Don't you ever fucking die?"

"What can I say! I'm just made to make you suffer! Too bad my scheme has been foiled before it even began! Tootles!"

A green mist appeared, and then disappeared taking the clown with it. I'll never know what this was about exactly, but judging from what the voice said I'm better of not knowing.

Talim was the first the break the silence: "Are you the one they call Spawn!"

Chains struck down right before Talim's feet. Shortly after that, a big guy in a black costume, with a red cape, came down. Is this really what a hell spawn looks like, I wondered. If I didn't know any better, he looked more like a comic book character to me.

"You?" Talim seemed to recognize him.

"What are you doing here!" Spawn said as if he knew her, "Aren't you supposed to be dead by now!"

Off course, I thought to myself. I didn't actually think about the possibility that these two may have met before.

"It's a long story, but..." Talim started.

Spawn interrupted: "Too bad you don't have that time!"

His cape changed into an ax.

I tried to reason with him: "Perhaps you're interested in hearing us out first!"

"I don't have time for that!" he kept saying.

I was surprised to hear him say that. Given that he's already dead, I figure he has all the time in the world. It would have been a good argument to use right now, but I choked when I was about to say that.

"Listen! We don't mean any..." Talim tried to say something else, but Spawn started to swing his ax. Talim used her blades to dodge the attack. This didn't stop him however. I really wonder what made him so furious against someone else who's supposed to be what he is supposed to be as well: dead!

I still tried to reason with him: "Look, Spawn..."

A chain with a claw attached to it came out of his suit. It pinned me to the wall behind me. If some of my bones weren't broken already, they sure were then. Suddenly, someone decided to turn on the radio, and let it play Evanescence's "Bring me to life". A freaky coincidence.

"Why are you fucks..." Spawn kept on calling us names.

For some reason, I began to think he had his own plans with the sword, and that's why he's trying to kill us both. That thought got me drifting off a little. Enough to not listen to him finishing his sentence, but also enough for him to be distracted, so that Talim could take him down. Then again, she didn't count on him using another chain, with which he pinned her to a wall. I noticed there were a few bums in this alley, but like the rest of New York City they act as if nothing's happening at all. Not even that one figure that looked down at them as if supervising them.

"If you're still alive, that means you're still looking for that sword!" Spawn concluded.

"We intend to destroy it!" Talim was telling him.

Spawn didn't believe her: "Hah! That's what you said back then too. But in the end, I was forced to work together with some oriental to find the sword, and hide it from everybody!"

Funny to see people contradict each other, rather than stories. I bet there was a third factor that got them to work together. No matter. Heihachi was right, this hell spawn knows where the sword is!

"Well... we got reasons to believe we can destroy it forever!" I tried to convince him.

Spawn still didn't believe us: "Oh yeah! Sure! And I'm Santa Clause!"

I honestly never understood this type of humor. But there's no time to Analise that. I said: "If you would tell us where to find it..."

"There are two problems!" Spawn said, "I don't know where I hid it, and wouldn't tell either of you if I did know!"

Talim didn't understand this: "How can you not know?"

Spawn explained: "I came back to the states, picked some cave or other, dropped it, then it got flooded! Figured nature buried it for me!"

I still needed to be convinced: "And you don't know where that cave is because...?"

"There were no road signs or anything!" Spawn said, "That's why! Nobody will ever find that sword now."

"I wouldn't be so sure about that!" a deep dark voice sounded.

That voice came from the direction of where I saw the bums I mentioned. That guy, whom I thought to be a supervisor, turned around and threw some kind of huge sword to Spawn. It hit him right in the middle. Spawn redrew his chains, letting both Talim and me go. That guy, whoever or whatever he was, reminded me a little of Blade. He also wore a leather trenchcoat, and a bulletproof vest. Unlike Blade though, this guy also wore a hood. Though it didn't seem like he had a face to hide at all. Is this some kind of ghost? It is just now that I wonder what he needed a bullet proof vest for.

The hooded guy spoke: "Now that I know that the sword is in this hemisphere, I'm sure I'll find it in no time at all!"

Talim was recovering herself, and said: "Not if I can help it!"

She immediately attacked this guy. Unfortunately, the best she could do was tear his clothes a little. Otherwise, there's no real damage that can be inflicted upon a ghost. At first, he dodged most of Talim's attacks, then he decided to punch her in the face. The sword he had thrown at Spawn, he took it out and decided to use that on Talim. That's when something came over me. Not caring about how much pain I was in, I jumped on that guy, trying to stop him. He did drop his sword in the surprise, but he grabbed me by my throat with his one hand.

The hooded guy looked at me up and down. Or at least I think he did. He said: "You are in no condition to fight at all."

Something went through me. I had no idea what it was, only that it hurt.

Luckily, the pain didn't last long. Spawn had regenerated quickly, and had got up to attack this guy, saying: "I don't care who gets the sword! Nobody just stabs me and gets away with it!"

I helped Talim to get up, and we both ran away. We headed back into the main streets, to a place as far as possible. When I had a hard time to breath we stopped.


	16. Chapter 16

Talim was the first of us two to talk: "He didn't say much, but at least we know we have to look here in the states!"

"Great!" I said sarcastically, "Spend the rest of the summer looking blindly for that sword!"

"When we're close enough to the sword, the wind can guide us to it!" Talim assured me.

Suddenly, I realized what that ghost had done to me earlier: "He healed me!"

Talim didn't know what she was hearing: "What?"

"That... that guy!" I was astonished about this myself, "He said I'm in no condition to fight, so he healed me!"

"Why would he do that?" Talim asked.

There was only one reason I knew: "Some people don't want to fight others if they're not up for it. He saw I wanted to fight him, but I was hurt so..."

"Like a noble knight?" Talim wondered, "I'm not so sure!"

"Neither am I." I said, "But fact still is I don't feel any pain, anymore."

I could tell that Talim wasn't too confident in the ghost's true intentions. But just as quickly, she remembered we had something else to do: "Let's go and buy some maps!"

"Maps?" I said questioningly, "What for?"

"If we are to travel through this country in search for the sword, we need to know where we're going!" Talim explained.

"But we can't just buy every map there is of this country!" I tried to convince her.

Talim was getting agitated now: "Unless you have a better idea, we will do that."

I didn't have a better idea, indeed. Once Talim noticed as much, she ordered me: "Let's go!"

We went from one street to another, looking for such stores. We ended up wherever we would find maps, but for this city alone. Eventually, we found some diner, where we were trying to recover from today's events.

All the while, I had been thinking about what Spawn had said. The cave where he had hidden the sword was flooded. Somehow we should be able to use that. A few minutes after the waitress had brought us our drinks, during that time we hadn't really said anything else, I got a better idea.

"I think I know where we could find the sword."

"Oh?" Talim was sounding curious.

Before I told her where, I asked her: "What do you know about haunted mansions?"

Talim thought she knew where I was taking it: "You think we have to search every haunted mansion there is here?"

"Not really!" I tried to explain, "There are hundreds of known haunted houses in the states. And at least half of them can be found in Louisiana!"

Talim seemed to show a bit of interest: "That's a lot! But for that same reason, the sword can be somewhere in England too!"

"I guess so." I couldn't deny that statement, "However, all of those houses can be found in one small town. Each of those mansions, farms or whatever, have some kind of history that revolves around people being murdered, tortured, experimented upon,... and now those houses have their own ghost stories. Then there's of course the civil war that has been fought there, and all the natural disasters, such as floods,... it's like there's something in that town that's attracting all that!"

Talim went silent for a few seconds before saying: "Soul Edge?"

"It's a long shot, but I wouldn't rule that out!" I added.

"Well, at least we have a place to go." Talim sounded a little relieved.

"Too bad our airman doesn't want to help us." I reminded her, "Given all the official things we have to go through to get on another airplane, I guess we'll have to hitch-hike our way there."

Talim didn't seem bothered: "There's no other way. Is there?!"


	17. Chapter 17

It wasn't a long time before we left the diner. Before we left, we did agree that looking for a map on this island would be a futile effort, so we took the first taxi cab we could find and let him take us off Manhattan Island. It was in the smaller towns around the island that we managed to find what we needed. At some gas station, we waited long enough to find a truck that could take us as far as Trenton, New Jersey. From here on, we continued on foot. Every now and then we had to sneak our way into another state, we encountered other people who could bring us as far as possible. We either stayed at cheap motels under false names and sneaked out in the morning, or we stayed outside and slept under the night sky.

Whatever happened during this period, of which I can't even remember how long it took, there aren't many things I can remember in detail. One thing specifically which I do remember is the fact that Talim always appeared to be in a hurry. She's going to sacrifice herself to save the world, and she doesn't even take her time to enjoy whatever life she still has left. In fact, there were moments that she made it appear as if I slowed her down. It was almost as if she couldn't wait to die.

Somewhere close to the border between Kentucky and Tennessee, we had spend the night somewhere in the woods. Despite all the psychical exercise I had, I wasn't exactly fast asleep. Talim wasn't either, although she did want me to believe she was. She was lying down, but I was sitting up. We had only one sleeping bag so we wouldn't be carrying around too much, so naturally she could feel it whether someone's lying or sitting in the bag.

She asked me: "Why aren't you asleep?"

I decide to come clean with her: "I don't understand you."

"I asked why you aren't asleep." she repeated.

"No, I don't mean 'I don't understand what you just said', I mean I don't understand you in general!"

This came as quite a surprise to her: "...Why not?"

"You do know that the closer we get to Soul Edge, the sooner you're going to die, right?"

Talim hesitated a little to answer: "... Yes!"

"Doesn't that bother you at all?"

Talim was about to make this clear to me once and for all: "I've lived for 429 years by now! Even my time comes some day!"

"Right..." I tried to understand that much, "But I still don't get this! You more or less know in advance when you're time comes, so you still have enough time to..."

Talim interrupted me: "We aren't the only ones looking for the sword! If I wait any longer, someone else may find it before us!"

"So you don't even wish to enjoy life now? See things you haven't seen before..."

"I've seen enough!" her tone made it pretty clear I had crossed a line, "I've seen world leaders turning against their people! I've seen how humanity suddenly became able to destroy oneself! I've seen a tsunami destroying the village where I used to live! I even lived to see everyone I loved die! I've seen everything now!"

Okay, I thought to myself. I didn't realize this could be a sensitive subject for her. therefor I apologized: "I... I'm sorry to..."

Talim, though not sounding comforting: "You didn't know! I don't blame you for it!"

"Still..." I still thought there was something else.

Talim sounded conflictive when she shouted: "What!"

She made it pretty clear to me that I had to be easy on what I want to say. Which I was: "After seeing so much misery, wouldn't you just wish for at least one moment of pure happiness? Something worth to remember?"

She looked down when I asked her that. She had an answer, but even that was sensitive.

"I did once!"

**"**Only once?" I asked curiously.

Talim began telling: "Before I cleansed the sword, I lived together with this man from Korea. We were taking care of some orphans, who were casualties of war."

I knew exactly who she was talking about.

"He was also interested in the sword, but he kept calling it the Sword of Heroes, believing he could help his people with it. I thought I could get to convince him he's wrong, and that the sword is evil. Perhaps, he would even become a lovable man. But then some older woman showed up, and convinced him to return home with her."

Unless I'm mistaking, she just described how Yunsung left her for Seong Mina. To be honest, of all characters I've encountered in the stories, Yunsung never made it to my list of favorites, so I actually expected less of him.

"And what about your village?" I asked.

"It took a few years before even I realized that I'm immortal. For the time I had stayed there, I saw many people age, and eventually die, whereas I remained young and... I couldn't stay there anymore."

"So you left." I concluded.

As if she thought I read her mind, she continued: "I've spend most of my life living in solitude. Any new friend I made was meant to last for a short while."

"Because you didn't want them to know you're immortal?"

"Yes." was her answer.

This got me to wonder about something else: "Then why did you tell ME you are?"

Talim seemed to need some time to think about her answer: "I... I don't know. Maybe I wanted to have a friendship that isn't based on hidden truths."

Or I already recognized her as someone who should have died long ago, so she had better come clean with me.

I had just one last question: "And there's really nothing else you want to see? Or want to know?"

After a moment of silence, she said: "Well... not really!"

I fell flat on my back as I heard her say that. I actually had hoped for a different answer.

Somehow, she seemed to realize as much, and said: "You know... after everything that has happened by now... I... I'm happy that I can spend the rest of my time with you!"

I got up again: "What? How... Why...?"

Talim, for the first time in what seemed like ages, was enthusiastic about saying this: "You didn't get angry with me for getting you in that fight with Yoshimitsu! You didn't yell at me, or anyone else because we kept using another language. You also helped me with that... that thing back in New York, even knowing it can't kill me!"

**"**Yeah... I didn't know what had gotten into me at that moment myself either." I tried to made my heroism seem not so heroic after all.

She smiled. If she didn't look so beautifully under the pale moonlight already, no matter how few light the trees allowed there to be in the woods, she sure did now.

"Although," I thought this needed some clearing, "I believe I owe you more than you owe me!"

She looked at me surprised. I explained to her: "Thanks to you, I've left Europe for once in my life. I actually got to fly in an airplane. And when I was hurt, you never left my side. That really meant something to me!"

Talim appeared to be speechless: "... Thank you!"

I added: "I could never wish for a better friend than you too."

Despite the darkness of the night, I could tell she was starting to tear. She laid herself down again, covered her eyes, hoping to shield her tears. My guess is that she just realized what she's going to miss if we succeed in doing this. Best thing I could think of to do was wrap my arms around her, trying to give her a bit of warmth. She turned her face to me when I did this. I couldn't exactly make out the expression she had on her face. All I do know is that there was something about this moment that was, for a lack of better terms, magical. Without any thought at all, I suddenly pressed my lips against her's. After about five seconds, I realized what I was doing. I had let go of her, and turned away. But she stopped me, saying things like: "No! Please don't stop!"

She pressed her lips against mine. She told me not to stop, so I returned the kiss.

This moment was a burst of emotions. There's no way of describing everything that I felt just then. I do remember that from that moment on, I know how it feels to be floating, to have reached the unreachable,... I have never felt as alive before in my life as I had at that moment.


	18. Chapter 18

When I woke up the next morning, seeing Talim lying there so peacefully, I was pretty sure she felt the same way. Shortly after I got up, she woke up too. Either that, or she was already awake, and waited for me, who knows.

"This... this is wrong!" were her first words that day.

I was surprised to hear her say that: "What! If you're worried about the difference in age, you really don't look much older than I am."

"No, not that." she assured me, "You know I'm gonna die soon! You know I want to sacrifice myself. Doing this, I..."

"Yes..." I interrupted, since I had a good idea of what she was going to say, "... but that shouldn't stop you from doing anything else. Should it? Actually, it should give you one more reason to continue."

She looked away, thinking. I'm not entirely sure what she was thinking about, possibly because I'm not a mind reader, but I could guess she was reconsidering the rest of her life. A small breeze is what came next. Talim stood up, as if it were some kind of religious sign. She stood there for a moment. It was somewhat funny, since we were somewhere in the woods, where we could barely even catch any wind. I can see how one could take this as a sign.

Talim turned to me, smiling. Getting her to smile at me like that, it gave me a feeling... which I can merely describe as good. I mean it felt good, but I can't describe how good.

"Promise me something!" she started to demand.

Curious to know what I have to promise: "What?"

"Promise me that no matter what, stay with me!"

I wouldn't want it any other way, so I said: "Give me just one good reason why I should leave you!"

She smiled again. We looked at each other for five minutes or so. It's easy to forget about time this way.

Talim was the first of us two to wake out of the trance. She kind of woke me shortly after, by saying: "We've got to go on!"

Almost as if not knowing what else to do, I started to pack up our stuff. She laughed as she saw me busy. After some twenty minutes, we were ready to move out again. Though as we left the woods, call me desperate, but I wanted to be sure I didn't lose her, so I held her hand. We kept doing so, until... well, I have no idea when we let go of each other, nor do I particularly remember ever letting go either.


	19. Chapter 19

After the long trip, we finally made it in Louisiana. Since it was both easier and cheaper to travel from one state to another through hitch-hiking, and more difficult to make it to one particular town in a state, we only decided to use public transport as soon as we were far enough from the border. We knew... or rather I knew what town we had to be at, so it wasn't that hard to find any type of public transport that would take us there.

Although, we didn't really arrive in that town. We actually arrived at a neighboring town. From their, we asked directions, and we went on foot for the rest of the way. At long last, we saw a sign, which indicated we had finally arrived.

"'Welcome to St-Francisville'!" I read out loud.

Somebody else had grafitied the sign, but I decided to ignore it.

"This is it!" I said, "Ghosts' capitol city!"

I couldn't have found a worse moment to use sarcasm. Talim seemed to sense something. Something that didn't appear to be something to laugh about.

"You alright?" I asked worriedly.

Talim didn't give a straight answer: "So much anger... so much hate..."

She suddenly seemed to lose balance, and was about to faint. I was able to catch her in time, but she still looked weak.

Never in my life had I panicked as much as I did then: "You okay!"

"I... I've never sensed... so much... before." Talim nearly whispered.

Suddenly believing humor can be a good medicine, I said: "Well, I did tell you that lot's of things happened here, as if something attracted them."

I was about to ask whether she could sense Soul Edge or not, but realized quick enough that this question would be inappropriate.

A stranger who saw us, spoke to us: "You two need some help?"

I did some quick thinking, knowing that I couldn't tell him about Soul Edge, and I probably shouldn't say anything about ghosts either, therefor: "Er... yeah, she isn't exactly used to this temperature. You know a place where she can..."

I didn't finish my sentence, but the stranger had an idea of what I wanted to say: "Sure do!"

He helped me drag her into his own house. The family offered her a bed to lie on, and some water to help her cool off.


	20. Chapter 20

Even with their help, by nightfall she was still unconscious, even when the clock had struck midnight. Then again, that would be the time one is supposed to be asleep. I couldn't sleep however. I stayed up and watched over her, just like she once did for me. Every time I looked at her face, I could see her sweat going down her cheeks, like she was having a nightmare. If it were only possible for me to help her get out of it. The best thing I could come up with was holding her hand. They say comatose people can hear us talk, can feel our presence, so I hoped she would feel this into her dream as well, and know she's not alone.

A faint smile did appear every now and then, but only briefly each time. Like somebody doesn't want her to have happy thoughts. I looked around in the room, hoping I could find a solution of some kind. But the environment wasn't inspiring. Instead, it got frightening when I looked into a mirror in that room, and saw a face of a monstrous man. I looked around in the room, but saw nobody else. This confirmed everything I ever read about this town, it is indeed haunted. The thought alone made me shake. And doing this while still holding Talim's hand wouldn't work stimulating. So I let go. Suddenly I heard a crack in the hallway. I heard it before, but it was that night alone that I realized it might not be something physics related that caused the crack. I would look to see what it was, but I couldn't even get up.

I kept telling myself that I made it this far, and this is not the right time to chicken out. So I tried to convince myself. When I finally managed, I remembered that I've never read anything about a monstrous man to have ever been here. At least not to my knowledge. Thinking about it made me realize the monster looked a little like that Azure Knight Nightmare I've read so much about in the Soul Edge stories. It got me to look at our bags, where we kept all fragments we had collected.

The bags seemed to have something red glowing inside of them. It was weird to see them glowing that fiercely, they had never done that before. I looked inside the bags, and took out one fragment. I wondered why they would glow so bright. Because they are close to the sword? Most likely. So I took another one out. I pointed one fragment into my left direction, and the other into my right. The right one seemed to glow much brighter than the left one, so I looked through the window where it was pointing. To have an accurate view as to where the sword is, I held both fragments in front of me. The right one was still brighter, so I looked into that direction. I suddenly knew where to look for the sword. And suddenly, I also wished I hadn't joined Talim on this quest.


	21. Chapter 21

The next morning, Talim woke up just like people do in the movies when they wake up from a nightmare. She got up screaming. I, who miraculously did fall asleep at some point that night, had let my head rest on her. Naturally, when she got up, she caused a domino effect, in which I fell on the floor, and woke up.

It took a while before Talim realized what just happened. When she did, she apologized: "I'm sorry! Please, try to understand!"

"Well, it's not like I once woke you up in a better way!" was my response.

A little smile appeared on her face.

The lady of the house had heard both the scream and the thud. She got in the room to check.

"What happened here?"

"Nothing!" Talim replied, "I just had a bad dream!"

The lady understood, but when she saw me lying on the floor, I could tell she was having the wrong idea.

"Don't ask" I told her with a cynical tone.

"What have you two been up to? And don't think of lying to me!" she said.

Luckily, the stranger who had helped us before came in.

"Take it easy! They've come from far away, and the girl had fainted. Show some respect for them!"

The lady listened to her husband. She left the room, but kept looking stern at me. When the door was shut, I could hear the man say: "Why won't you fix them some breakfast?"

The lady replied: "Breakfast? It's two pm! If they would've gotten up earlier..."

Those two could go on like that for a while, so we didn't pay much attention to the rest of their conversation. Instead, I had some things to say to Talim.

"So about where..."

"I saw them!" Talim interrupted.

"You saw who?" I asked.

"Everyone who died here! I saw how they lived, how they were treated, how they were killed..."

That explained why her dreams appeared so intense. I tried to get her to keep her mind off it, but I had to do it slowly: "It must have been some nightmare!"

Talim hadn't finished just yet: "All the rage... it even surpasses the sword's evil! I can't sense it!"

I was about to tell her I had figured out a way to find the sword, but she still wasn't finished. "I can't deal with such power alone!"

I wasn't sure whether I liked the sound of that.

"You didn't leave me last night! I even felt your hand!"

I wasn't sure whether I should tell her I had let go at some point, she might misunderstand.

"Even when you let go, I still knew you were there! Your presence made my dreams bearable!"

Never before had anyone said something like that to me.

Talim still wasn't finished: "If we're going to do this, I really need your help more then ever."

There you have it, I thought to myself. A girl that's physically stronger than I am, needs my help. My protection maybe. I'm the only one of us two who knew I can't be of that kind of help.

"Look, Talim. I..." I started to speak, but she wouldn't let me finish.

"You won't leave me, will you!?" she pleaded.

Here I am, in the most haunted town in the world, where I can freak out every second, and I'm requested to help someone who would suit more as someone to guard over me rather than the other way around. I was not so sure whether I'm up for it, given all the ghost stories I've ever read. On the other hand, I didn't want Talim to feel insecure either. I looked into her eyes. She looked at me pleading. I wondered whether she could read the fear in my eyes. I looked away, and began to talk about my little discovery last night.

"Er... last night... I couldn't fall asleep!" I started, "I... er... I noticed that the fragments started to glow. I thought they did that because they were close to the sword. This way I may have found out where the sword is!"

"You have? Where?" she suddenly turned into a child waiting for a bedtime story.

"Myrtles Plantation!" I answered, "It's a so-called bed and breakfast. It is also known to be the most haunted house in America!"

"So if anywhere, we should be looking over there for the sword?" Talim asked.

"You sure you're up for it?" I almost tried to talk her out of it. I realize that I've seen many things before, but those are nothing compared to what I might see in that house.

"What are you so afraid of?" Talim asked, "You didn't sense their anger like I did!"

"No." I replied, "But I've read about that place! Hand prints appearing on the mirrors, some tune that someone keeps playing on the piano, objects that replace themselves, footsteps on the stairs, pictures that move,... I'm surprised that place is still active at all!"

"It still is?" Talim asked.

"Yes!" I said as if this were a disgrace of some kind.

"Then we can't just enter and do what we have to, can we?" she said as if she didn't hear what I just said.

This I didn't understand. She said she might not be able to handle any of this, and now she didn't seem to be afraid at all. If I were still a bit of a skeptic, I wouldn't even believe there was any ghost in that house. But Talim seemed so determined to get in, and find the sword. What was it that I could say?


	22. Chapter 22

Note: there really is a bed and breakfast in St-Francisville, Louisiana, known as Myrtles Plantation. And yes, it has a history of violence, and yes it is believed to be the most haunted house in America. There have been many rumors about what happened in the house, and many ghost stories as well, however most of those stories or rumors have been proved to be incorrect (though I'm not sure about which ones). As for those who love to believe in ghosts: those who reside in the house are considered to be mischievous, but won't cause any real harm. So I want you all to bear all this in mind when reading this chapter.

* * *

After we had our breakfast, the man showed his hospitality to let us have a shower. Unfortunately, he told us we had to leave as soon as we finished showering. Because his wife couldn't have either of us inside her house any longer. If the ghosts are nothing to be afraid of in this town, some of the living would be.

During daytime, the fragments still glowed, but in the daylight they didn't glow bright enough to tell us which way to go. We asked around where to find Myrtles Plantation. Some people wet themselves when we mentioned the name, which didn't mean any good. Especially since those people deliberately pointed us into the wrong direction afterwards. There were but a few skeptics who pointed us into the right direction. This way, it took us many hours to even find the road that lead us there. The plantation was to be found somewhere in the outskirts of that town, and according to what I read, easily recognizable by the cherub statue at the front.

By the time it was night, we found the place! An idea that crossed my mind that time, is what would happen if we destroy the sword. The sword seemed to be the thing that attracted everything, so making it disappear would stop attracting those things. But would it also repel them? If so, then we would destroy the one thing that drew tourists to this little town. We would be responsible for destroying the town's economy. Then again, what is more important, the lives and free wills of every living creature on this planet? Or keeping a town alive? Asking this to myself I realized I was starting to sound like Talim.

"Is this the plantation?" Talim asked me, the minute we arrived.

"I think so!" I said. I had seen enough pictures to recognize it. Suddenly, I noticed some kind of figure hanging on a tree. I blinked my eyes a few times, and then it disappeared. That's when I didn't just think we were at the right place.

"I'm pretty sure we are here now!"

"What makes you so sure!" she asked.

"Chloe is 'hanging' around here!" I tried to remain my wits, but inside I kept trembling.

Talim didn't know who I was talking about: "Who is Chloe?"

"Someone who used to live here!" I answered.

"You actually know people who lived here?" she sounded surprised.

Like I'm talking about the most normal thing in the world, I answered: "Sometimes people are much better known when they're dead!"

I took one fragment out of my pocket. Since the darkness of the night was coming, it started glowing much brighter. I pointed it next to the plantation first. It was quite bright. But when I pointed it at the house, it was even brighter.

If possible, I shook even more then before at that moment: "T... this is the place!"

"Why are you shaking?" Talim couldn't understand, "You've already faced an undead pirate, a Will-O'-The-Wisp, a Charade,..."

"Those were more fleshed beings!" I reminded her, "This is different! Even that Will-Of-Thisp had an obvious weak spot!"

It was pretty obvious that Talim wasn't discouraged. She certainly was even braver than I am. I marched towards the front door, and Talim followed. Then something hit me. Figurally, that is, but it got me to a halt.

"What's the matter?" Talim wondered.

"Why are all the lights out?" I answered her question with a question.

"Maybe all the guests are still sight-seeing!" Talim suggested.

"Then why isn't there even any light from a kitchen, or a lobby or whatever?" I was still not convinced everything was OK.

"Since this is a haunted house, maybe the owners and employees are trying to scare each other!" she suggested.

"Of course." I agreed sarcastically, "A whole bunch of grown men and women, who would play tricks on each other. Without even using flashlights!"

Talim noticed the problem as well: "Maybe this house has been abandoned for a while!"

"Now why would that be!" I asked, even though I already knew the answer.

I moved closer. I noticed vague apparitions of two little blond girls in the veranda, and looking at Talim's face, she saw them too. This will be likely be the most terrifying event in our lives, I thought to myself.

Because we had an unlimited source of light, we didn't need to use any flashlights, or switch on the lights in the house. We moved through the hallway. I saw something move at my right-hand side. I turned around in fear, but I was relieved to see there was nothing wrong.

Talim saw me making the sudden move, so she asked: "What is it? What did you see?"

"Nothing." I answered, "But knowing this place is haunted, it would be easy to get scared of your own reflection."

I pointed her to the mirror as I said that last bit. Talim suddenly reminded me of something: "Where to now?"

"I'm not sure!" I answered.

The fragment was glowing quite bright, so we must be really close. We could even be standing right on top of it, and not realize it until the next morning. I decided to take another fragment out of my pocket, again to compare their brightness. Suddenly, there was a loud bang, like a gun blast. Both Talim and I turned to the door. The door suddenly shut itself right in front of our very eyes. We heard footsteps coming closer to us. After they reached us, they went on, up the stairs, like whatever was causing this had no interest in us whatsoever.

"What is that?" Talim asked me.

I held up my hand, as to say 'wait'. I was counting the steps 'it' made on the stairs. After seventeen of them, the footsteps stopped.

"Seventeen!" I thought out loud.

Talim had no idea what I was talking about: "Seventeen what?"

"He went up to the seventeenth step!" I said, "According to the stories, one of first owners of the house was shot when he opened the front door. He ran up to the seventeenth step..."

"Where his wife found him, and where he died in her arms." Talim continued for me, "I've seen it happen in my dreams!"

That's when I decided to tell her about the part of the story she most likely hasn't seen: "For some unknown reason, that guy keeps reliving the last moments of his life over and over again!"

That's when we heard someone going down the stairs.

"I don't remember anything about someone coming down!" Talim said, "You?"

"No?" I answered questionable. Then it got really cold. I could actually see my breath, and that during summer in Louisiana! Talim on the other hand felt something besides cold. She was about to pass out again.

"Such..." she was getting to weak so say anything.

I grabbed hold of her, and ran into the first room I could find. My thought is that the wife, even after reliving it thousands of times, is still looking for someone to blame for her husband's demise. And tonight, she picked us.

Whatever room we just entered, I hoped there was no other ghost inside. Unfortunately, contrary to what George A. Romero suggests in his movies, the dead are quite fast. That woman had entered the room as well, and shut the door behind her. A typical scene from a movie, which I always like to see, but I could never imagine myself being part of such a scene. There was only one way I saw to get out. I grabbed a chair and threw it through the window. It broke, but it didn't shatter as it should. I decided to use Talim's tonfas's to break the window. Of course, I could just as simply open it, but in a ghost house like this you can never be too sure whether that would work. I helped Talim to get out through the window, and we ran around the house.

"I knew this was a bad idea!" I remarked, once we regained breath.

"If we don't do this," Talim convinced me, "then the evil sword will never disappear!"

Again, I tried what I wanted to try from the beginning. I compared the brightness of one fragment with another. I soon realized that we would have to look under the ground.

"Let's get inside, and look for the basement." I said.

I can't believe I actually suggested us to go inside a place I don't want to be inside. No matter, with any luck, we would have to go in and back out, with nothing else in between. We searched every door. Every door that was locked, Talim kicked open. It took us a while before we found a door to the basement, but we found it none the less. That's when I felt another cold spot.

"Let's get down!" I nearly ordered her.

She didn't care about how I sounded, she wanted to go down as much as I did. I closed the door behind us, and we ran down the stairs. Down there it was still cold, but not unusually cold for a basement.

Again I used the fragments to pinpoint the sword's location. Until I was sure that I was standing right on top of it. Remembering what Spawn told us, I realized that the cave, through the course of about 400 years of natural disasters and of people colonizing the new world, the cave might be buried by now.

"We should've brought some shovels with us!" I remarked.

Talim was a little upset with me saying that: "You're telling me this now?!"

"We can't get out the way we came, I know!" I tried to calm her down, "But maybe if we try the win..."

I looked at one window when I said that, but then I saw someone standing there. It was like the ghosts didn't want us to leave.

"They don't want us to go." I said out loud.

"Why not?" Talim wondered.

"I can think of only two reasons!" I answered, "One, they want to drive us nuts, or starve us to death. Two, they are tired of wandering around here forever, and believe that if we take away the sword they will be free!"

"Then maybe we should tell them we want to destroy the sword!" Talim suggested, "Then they will let us go out and loo..."

"And risking the chance of us leaving and never coming back?" I added.

Talim then realized the problem too. I put one fragment down where we had to dig, put the other in my pocket, and start looking for something we could use to dig up the cave.


	23. Chapter 23

The only thing useful we found was an ax. Though I always wondered why anyone would keep something like that inside his own house. In any case, we started digging. It still took us a long while, but we found something eventually. Like a bubble in water, we found some kind of room under the ground. What else could it be but the cave that Spawn mentioned. We entered it and looked for the sword. We found it's lit sticking out of the ground.

"I take it that's the sword?" I asked.

Talim didn't seem to be about to pass out this time: "Yes. It is."

She started to use her tonfas to dig it out. Like I said before, she never hesitated, despite the fact this whole adventure is in fact a suicide quest.

"Why are you still standing there?" she called at me, "Help me get this out!"

I did as she asked. After we were done digging, I was surprised to see the sword. Not only because I was actually looking at something of which I thought it only existed in legends and folklore, but also because of it's size. I know that Soul Edge was a huge sword, but this is too big for any ordinary man to carry around, let alone use it in combat.

"So... this is Soul Edge." I was speaking somewhat uncertain, since I didn't know how else to react to this.

"Let's take out all the fragments!" Talim nearly demanded.

That one piece I used to locate the sword, I placed it on the sword. It immediately blended with the sword, and it still looked like nothing even happened to it. Talim in the meantime had taken out all others, and did the same to them. When we were finished, the entire sword seemed to glow, and it's eye opened. I saw something growing bigger, and getting smaller again, as if it were breathing. If anything, this was the most terrifying thing I ever saw.

"Talim?" I wanted to know something from her, "Are you feeling a sting in your back?"

She didn't seem to understand why I asked: "...No?"

"Strange." I replied, "Because I do!"

I felt like someone was holding a gun in my back. Though it felt too sharp, so it must be a knife of some kind. Talim did not hesitate to look behind me. Soul Edge was lighting up the room, so I could see her face quite clearly. I recognized the terror in her eyes. I heard her say something. I took it as a swear in her own language. So whatever it is I felt, there was something or someone behind me. I slowly turned my head around. I couldn't believe what I saw! It was a young woman, with a dark blue top, ditto pants, gloves, boots and hood. She carried around some kind of weird sword, of which I now know it's called a Chinese blade. Also, this woman seemed to be decaying, as if she died long ago. Despite the decay, I recognized her.

"You!" I shouted as I turned the rest of my body as well.

This came as a surprise to Talim: "You know her too?"

"I'll say!" I replied, "She's that mercenary that killed Yumi!"

"Despite the fact she should have killed you instead!" a darker, yet familiar voice spoke.

I was just about to ask Talim what she meant by 'too', before that voice spoke. From behind the girl, the hooded guy we had encountered in New York City appeared.

"Who are you?" I asked as if there weren't any more important things right now.

"Damien." he answered.

Other than 'The Omen', that name didn't ring any bell to me: "Damien as in...?"

"You wouldn't know me!" he said, "I was one of the meaningless soldiers during the Mantis War!"

I was surprised to hear that. Hoping that I could buy some time from this guy, I asked him: "The Mantis War? Then how could your name be Damien? I don't think that even..."

"Silence!" he shouted.

I'm not sure what it was that made him so upset, but I decided to do as he said.

Talim however didn't decide that: "What do you want with the sword?"

"Give me one good reason to tell you, and I will!" he told her.

It was then that something came to me: "You wanted us to find the sword for you. Didn't you?"

His hood turned to my direction. Although I couldn't tell how he looked at me, nor if he looked at me, since there was no face beneath the hood.

"You only healed me because only then you're sure I would find it!" I added.

"If you're so smart to think of all that..." he said, "... then maybe you should understand what I meant with the word 'silence'!"

I had nothing to say now. He said something to the girl zombie, after which she pointed her blade to me. I took a few steps back, and so did Talim, afraid that if she makes a move, the zombie would kill me.

Damien stepped towards the sword. He was about to grab it's lit, but then I figured a way to catch two birds with one stone.

"Wait!" I yelled.

Damien wasn't at all pleased at this: "You are telling me to wait! Wait to grab hold of what I long sought after!"

"Well..." I needed to do some quick thinking, "Since you already waited for so many years, I guess a few more minutes won't make any difference!"

Damien appeared to be thinking about it. Or at least I think he was. But he came to a decision: "What do you find so important to tell me?"

"So you'll have the sword!" I started, "So you'll become the most powerful being in the world! Then what? You think there's nothing to be afraid of?"

The awkward silence made it seem like he was taking that thought into consideration: "What should I be afraid of then?"

"Perhaps... er..." I was trying to make him more curious about what I was going to tell him, "What if something would take it all away from you!"

He called something to the zombie. As he marched up to me, the zombie grabbed hold of Talim.

"Do anything, and he dies!" he said to Talim. He grabbed me by my throat as he said: "What could possibly be that powerful to take such power away!"

Even though I've been grabbed there before, it is something you'll never grown accustomed to. Knowing that he'll kill me if I don't speak, I answered: "Soul Calibur!"

"Soul Calibur is a fairy tale to keep the young ones happy!" Damien said.

"And Soul Edge is not a myth to make knights happy?" I asked him.

Clearly, he didn't think I would say something like that: "Are you saying that Soul Calibur exists as well!"

"Every villain must have a hero to defeat him!" I tried to convince him, "If you destroy the sword before anyone could grab it's lit, then..."

"Where is it?!" he demanded me to tell him.

I told him: "I don't know."

"You're no good to me then!" he said as he was about to raise his sword.

"I mean..." I was trying to stop him, "I have an idea where to find it, but I don't know where that is!"

"Would you be so kind to stop talking in mysteries!" it sounded more like an order than a request.

"There's this lost cathedral," I started, "where both swords had fought last! But can only be found by warriors who really want to find it. I have no idea where that cathedral is!"

"Then you are useless!" he said as he grabbed his sword.

"Wait!" Talim screamed, "I know where to find it!"

She must have somehow figured out what I planned to do, or else she wouldn't be so eager to help him.

"You do?" he didn't seem to believe her, "You know where it is!"

"I've been there before!" she said, "I know I can find it again!"

"So be it!" he said, followed by something else, to which the zombie girl dragged Talim out, grabbing my left arm in the progress so I'm being dragged away too. Damien himself grabbed the sword, then left the cave and the plantation as well.


	24. Chapter 24

Talim told Damien where that cathedral is. For many reasons, it is best for me not to mention it's location now, all I can say is that the cathedral was somewhere on a mountain. At least that's what Talim told him. Damien opened up a portal, which transported all four of us to that mountain. Unfortunately, he didn't actually transport us in the cathedral. That's because it was really on top of that mountain. He wasn't really pleased with this, but he still needed both of us to find Soul Calibur, so he couldn't kill us in his rage. He made us lead him the way to the cathedral.

It did take a while before we had reached the top. I am not sure why we weren't transported so far away, maybe Damien wanted us to suffer, or Talim thought this could save us some time so we can cook something up to beat this guy. When we reached the cathedral, nothing has been cooked up however. On top of that, knowing how the stories had described the cathedral, and seeing what it looked like when we were there, it really amazed me in such a way that I lost all concentration. This way, they could easily snatch Talim away without me noticing it in time to stop them. The zombie girl grabbed her. I tried to stop her, but Damien pushed me away. Despite the fact that Talim had put up a good fight, the zombie took away her tonfas. The zombie placed Talim's hands on the wall, and pinned the tonfas on the wall, in such a way it would look like she's chained to the wall.

"Don't worry about your maiden!" Damien said, "She won't be able to stop you from finding the sword!"

My guess is that he thought I was easier to break then Talim. He believed I would want to find the sword for him, whereas Talim would only agree so she can perform an ambush. Why is it that these kind of people are always able to distinguish the weakest from the strongest?

I knew what he wanted me to do. But I don't know what I should do! This cathedral lies in ruins, so looking for Soul Calibur here would take ages. Maybe those granite images of Soul Calibur could be of help.

"One of those swords must be the one!" I guessed out loud.

Damien said something to the zombie. She swayed her blade around, destroyed all of the 'swords', but they all turned out to be fake.

Damien wasn't happy: "The sword's not here!"

"Well..." I had another idea where to find it, "there was this woman called Xianghua to whom it once belonged, but to find someone who only exists in..."

He didn't let me finish what I wanted to say. He give me one hard push, and drew Soul Edge, saying: "I won't listen to you anymore!"

He started to sway the sword, only narrowly missing me. Then I remembered that I still had one metal fragment in my pocket. The floor we were on was surrounded by water, so I took out the fragment, and threatened to throw it in the water.

"What do you hope to accomplish?" Damien asked.

I tried to sound even more threatening: "You kill me now, and this rock will fall in the water! When that happens, Soul Edge will never have it's full strength!"

His voice all on it's own made it seem he wasn't intimidated: "I don't need you to give me that fragment, nor does it matter whether or not you throw it away!"

He grabbed my throat again, and threw me away from the water. I fell pretty hard on that floor, and the rocks. But... then it turned out Damien just signed his own contract of death, when I found a lit sticking out of the rocks. I looked back to him. He marched to me, raised Soul Edge, and strikes it down. I grabbed that lit, took the sword out just in time and used it as a shield to guard myself against the attack. After the sparks faded away, both Damien and I could see the sword I just used. Another sword with an eye, with a split end: Soul Calibur!

"It's only a fairy tale, huh!?" I said, suddenly finding the kind of courage I never had before.

I pushed Soul Edge away, giving myself the chance to get up. The stories say that Soul Calibur lends it's powers to it's wielder. Fighting off Damien, I found out that that part of the story was true. I was fighting him with the sword as if I had never done anything else in my life. For once in my life I felt like nothing could beat me. I was surprised to see that the zombie girl didn't step into the fight. Maybe she only does whatever she's told to do, and since Damien didn't tell her to help him, she wasn't helping him either. Another thing that was weird was the fact that I could realize such things while not losing focus on the battle.This sword truly does make the wielder invincible.

There was a moment when Damien had enough of fighting me. He raised his sword again, to give me the final blow. What happened then went so fast I only remember how it began and how it ended: with my sword's split end, I could easily catch his sword, next thing I remember Soul Edge was stuck in the floor. Damien wanted to pull it out, but I stabbed him with Soul Calibur, through his bulletproof vest, which immediately absorbed him. When it was done, all that there was left of Damien was his trenchcoat, bulletproof vest and whatever else he wore. His death seemed to have had it's effect on the zombie as well, for she dropped down the minute Damien was gone. I looked at Talim. We both knew that thé moment has arrived. We didn't need words to express how we felt at this situation. One last heroic deed for Soul Calibur became to destroy the wall on which Talim was pinned, allowing us to spend one last night together.


	25. Chapter 25

At the crack of dawn, we got up, got dressed, and got ready. I picked up both the metal fragment I still had left, as well as Soul Calibur, and stood before Soul Edge. I will never forget that moment. The moment when I realizes it was all over. When the Soul Blades are gone, when the world is saved from one disaster, when the love of my life disappeared, and Talim lost her new found life. I could still have one last chat with Talim, show her some parts of the world which only I know about,... but in the end I'll just be postponing the inevitable. Convincing myself it's the right thing to do, I stabbed Soul Calibur into Soul Edge's eye, and stabbed the last fragment into Soul Calibur's eye. The fragment would blend with Soul Edge through Soul Calibur, but one will have destroyed the other, so it wouldn't matter if it ever blended. When both swords got damaged, they seemed to emanate some kind of glow, a whole orb of... energy, or so it looked. This caused Talim's last words to be: "LOOK OUT!"

Again I was knocked down, only this time somebody else lay on me when that happened. I faintly heard an explosion.

When I woke up, I felt something lying on me. Remembering what happened before I passed out, I knew it was Talim. I turned my head, and got spooked when I saw a human skeleton lying on me instead. Then I recognized Talim's clothes. This made me figure that this is Talim as she should look by now, had she died hundreds of years ago as she should have. It was, and still is, hard to believe that someone so pretty as Talim, could become something as frightening as that. But that wasn't the first thing that came to mind. Talim is gone! In fact, I killed her! I mourned about it for days. I wouldn't eat, I wouldn't sleep, I wouldn't drink...

Eventually I decided I should give her a decent burial. One she deserves. And as a symbol of what we accomplished together, I was going to bury whatever's left of both swords with her. I got up to pick up the pieces. Was I surprised to see that there was only one piece: one normal sized, medieval European sword! They say that one must find his or her exact opposite to find completion. Could it be that the same thing goes for these swords? Or were they once one? I have no idea. In either case, it's powers are gone, or else Talim were still here. Having to bury her is difficult on it's own, and I don't mean the act of burying on it's own. If there was only one sword I had to pick up, I suppose this would make burying her a little bearable. Or so I tried to tell myself, in an attempt to get over her death.

Underneath the cathedral, I dug a pit, that was deep enough so that my head only barely sticked out of the ground. I had put her in, along with her tonfas, and covered her with all the dirt I had dug up. Like a crucifix, I stuck the sword into the ground. I still stayed for three days, or more. The grieve caused me to lose track of time. At long last, I felt the wind. To Talim, the way the wind blows has it's own meaning, but to me it was just wind. But this time, I saw it as a sign. I could mourn over her for the rest of my life, but she wouldn't want me to do that. I still hesitated, but I decided to leave eventually. By the few means I had, I did everything I could to get back to my home country.

Instead of going home to my parents, I returned to my studio apartment. There were marks on the door that indicated that somebody had tried to burst it in. If it were one of those others who knew I had some shining piece of metal, they would have succeeded in breaking the door. Whoever did this, did not succeed. My guess is it were my parents, who thought I just didn't want to open the door for them. Not that it mattered much to me. I opened the door, entered my studio, locked the door behind me, put down my backpack, didn't bother to take off my clothes, and went straight to bed.

I was asleep for thirty minutes maybe, until I heard some familiar voices, screaming at me to open the door. I knew for sure it were my parents, but for some reason I didn't care much anymore. I opened the door, only to receive one smack in my face from my mother, who kept raving on about how they worked to feed me, and how I throw away all the money to going on some trip with my friends. In fairness, none of their precious money was even spend on it. Also the trip was never even meant to be any fun at all, and apart from meeting the love of my life, it was no real fun either. I was threatened by an undead pirate, nearly killed by a bunch of paranoid ninja's, had a painful recovery from that near-kill, faced of with some supernatural creatures, destroyed two swords capable of destroying the world, knowing that it would kill somebody I loved. This is exactly what I told the both of them, and I added that they should stop screaming because I'm not deaf. Perhaps they are getting deaf, but I'm still hearing everything perfectly fine. My father was about to punch me in the face, but I blocked his fist, and punched him instead, after which my mother got what she was coming to too (a smack back into her face). They threatened to stop paying for my studies, but I don't care, since to their knowledge I'm studying something I never wanted to study in the first place. Plus out of the thirty millions I won, there were still over 29,9 million left. They even threatened to call the police, but if they really would have done it, the damaged door would prove into their own disadvantage. Additionally I'm not the only one who stayed in the building, so I have witnesses to tell the police that I was legally defending myself. There's really nothing they could do.

It's funny how that summer changed my life forever. I had faced whatever I would have avoided, seen things I could never imagine them to be real,... it helped me to find the courage to stand up to my parents. Something Talim once said, according to the stories, is 'Conflict lies within you'. Somehow my last run-in with my parents got me to remember that, even though I'm still not sure about what it means. Remembering that, something else had hit me: she never knew my name! None of those we met did either! I'll probably be described as some fearless warrior, who fought bravely for the fate of the world, or some blood thirsty psychopath who wanted the sword for the so-called 'ultimate kick'. In any event, none of the stories that will come out of what happened back then will be told like they really did happen, and likely to them Talim was just someone who will die in the end, which did actually happen, and therefor she will not fall in love with the hero of the story.

I can't believe I just used the word hero to describe myself! I know exactly what it is that I'm worth, what it is I can or cannot do,... A fourteenth century troubadour once sang, that chosen by history a man becomes a warrior, and engraved into history a warrior becomes a hero. For all I know I'm not engraved or chosen anywhere, therefor I will never be a hero. Or at least, nobody will know it's me...

**THE END**


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